The door through which we step out

那扇门很容易推开，轻得

into the past is an easy push,

像空气，绿纱门垂着春天。

light as the air, a green screen door

我们从这里走出去，

with a sagging spring. There’s a hook

走进过去。有个钩子，

to unhook first, for there have been

要先把它放下来，因为发生了

incidents: someone has come up

一些事件：有人从“过去”

out of the past to steal something good

走出来，企图从“现在”偷窃

from the present. We know who they are.

好东西。我们知道他们是谁。

We have tried to discourage them

我们已经试着阻止他们，

by moving from house to house,

我们从一栋房子搬到另一栋房子，

from city to city, but they find us

从一座城市搬到另一座城市，但是

again and again. You see them coming

他们一次又一次找到我们。有时候，

sometimes from a long ways off —

你看见他们从很远的地方走来——

a pretty young woman, a handsome man,

一个年轻的女人，一个英俊的男人，

stepping in through the back garden gate,

从后花园的门走进来，他们曾停下来

pausing to pick the few roses.

摘取那有限的几枝玫瑰。