Sheath of sleep in the black of the bed:

黑魆魆的床上睡眠的鞘套

From outside this dream womb

从这梦的子宫外头传来

Comes a clatter

传来一声咔嗒

Comes a clatter

传来一声咔嗒

And finally the mind rises up to a fact

终于，意识里跳出一个念头

Like a fish to a hook

像鱼儿上了钩

A raccoon at the kitchen!

浣熊在厨房！

A falling of metal bowls,

金属碗掉落，

the clashing of jars,

罐子碰撞

the avalanche of plates

盘子雪崩！

I snap alive to the ritual

这些夜夜上演的把戏把我猛地惊醒

Rise unsteady, find my feet,

我摇摇晃晃起身，摸到了方位

Grab the stick, dash in the dark—

抓过棍子，在黑暗中猛冲——

I’m a huge pounding demon

我是走起路来地动山摇的巨魔

That roars at raccoons –

对着浣熊怒吼——

They whip around the corner,

它们在墙角乱窜碰壁，

A scratching sound tells me

一阵抓挠声告诉我

they’ve gone up a tree.

它们逃上树了。

I stand at the base

我站在树下

Two young ones that perch on

两只小浣熊趴在

Two dead stub limbs and

两根截过的树枝上

Peer down from both sides of the trunk:

从树干两侧向下张望着我：

Roar, roar, I roar

怒吼，怒吼，我怒吼

you awful raccoons, you wake me

你们这些该死的浣熊，多少个夜晚

up nights, you ravage

把我吵醒，搞乱了

our kitchen

厨房

As I stay there then silent

待我站定，而后静默

The chill of the air on my nakedness

空气中的寒意从皮肤开始

Starts off the skin

刺激着我裸露的身体

I am all alive to the night.

我完全感受到了夜。

Bare foot shaping on gravel

光脚在砂地上留印

Stick in the hand, forever.

手握棍棒，一刻不松。

Long streak of cloud giving way

长云散去

To a milky thin light

现出乳白的微光

Back of black pine bough,

黑乎乎的松枝后，

The moon is still full,

月亮还圆着，

Hillsides of Pine trees all

满枝的松林都在

Whispering; crickets still cricketting

耳语；蛐蛐还在幽暗

Faint in cold coves in the dark

冰冷的小洞内低吟

I turn and walk back slow

我转身缓步

Back the path to the beds

走回通向卧床的小径

With goosebumps and lose waving hair

身上起着鸡皮疙瘩，头上是蓬松凌乱的头发

In the night of milk-moonlit thin cloud glow

乳白色月光照亮薄云

And black rustling pines

黑松林沙沙作响，这样的夜晚

I feel like a dandelion head

我如同一棵蒲公英

Gone to seed

开始播撒种子

About to be blown away

即将肆意纷飞至各处

Or a sea anemone open and waving in

或像一株海葵在珍珠般闪耀的冰凉海水

cool pearly water.

绽放漂浮。

Fifty years old.

五十岁。

I still spend my time

依旧穷于

Screwing nuts down on bolts.

把螺母拧上螺栓。

At the shadow pool,

阴影里，

Children are sleeping,

孩子们在酣睡，

And a lover I’ve lived with for years,

还有我相濡多年的爱人，

True night.

真切的夜。

One cannot stay too long awake

无人能在这样的黑暗中

In this dark

长久醒着

Dusty feet, hair tangling,

尘泥沾足，发丝纷乱，

I stoop and slip back to the

我俯身钻回

Sheath, for the sleep I still need,

鞘中，为了我依旧需要的睡眠，

For the waking that comes

为了每天随黎明

Every day

而来的

With the dawn.

醒。