Now they are no longer

现在，他们已不再是

any trouble to each other

彼此的任何麻烦

he can turn things over, get down to that list

他可以把事情都翻一遍，列出

of things that never happened, all of the lost

从未发生之事的清单，所有

unfinishable business.

消逝的无法完成的事情。

For instance… for instance,

例如那个……例如

how he never clipped and kept her hair, or drew a hairbrush

他从没剪下她的头发，保存下来，从没

through that style of hers, and never knew how not to blush

顺着她发型用发刷梳梳，从未体会过

at the fall of her name in close company.

在亲密陪伴的场合听到她名字而脸红。

How they never slept like buried cutlery –

他们竟从未像餐具埋起来那样入睡——

two spoons or forks cupped perfectly together,

两把勺子或叉子完美地贴在一起，

or made the most of some heavy weather –

或者充分利用一些恶劣的天气——

walked out into hard rain under sheet lightning,

披着片状闪电，走进倾盆大雨，

or did the gears while the other was driving.

或者一人开车，一人换挡。

How he never raised his fingertips

他竟也从未抬起手指

to stop the segments of her lips

阻止她轻启朱唇

from breaking the news,

说破那条消息，

or tasted the fruit

或品尝那个水果，

or picked for himself the pear of her heart,

从未把她如梨的心摘下留给自己，

or lifted her hand to where his own heart

或把她的手举到他自己心的部位，

was a small, dark, terrified bird

那只握在她手中的一只又小鸟，

in her grip. Where it hurt.

黑黑的，瑟瑟的。那儿会痛。

Or said the right thing,

从未说对话，

or put it in writing.

或写下来。

And never fled the black mile back to his house

从没在午夜之前偷跑那黑黑的一英里

before midnight, or coaxed another button of her blouse,

回到他家，或者哄她再解开一个上衣纽扣，

then another,

然后再解开一个，

or knew her

从不知道她

favourite colour,

最喜欢的颜色，

her taste, her flavour,

她的品味，她的风味，

and never ran a bath or held a towel for her,

从没给她洗澡或递毛巾，

or soft-soaped her, or whipped her hair

或者给她打肥皂，或把她头发

into an ice-cream cornet or a beehive

打乱编成甜筒或泡沫蜂巢，

of lather, or acted out of turn, or misbehaved

或者在他可能得手时，举止失当，

when he might have, or worked a comb

或逾越界限，或者没有梳子

where no comb had been, or walked back home

却梳你的头，或者抱着一颗被刺破的心，

through a black mile hugging a punctured heart,

穿过那黑黑的一英里走回家，

where it hurt, where it hurt, or helped her hand

那里会痛，那里会痛，也没有帮她

to his butterfly heart

把手捂到他的心上，

in its two blue halves.

那就像蝴蝶的两个蓝色翅膀。

And never almost cried,

从没有差点哭出去，

and never once described

从没有描述过

an attack of the heart,

心脏病发作，

or under a silk shirt

或在丝绸衬衫下

nursed in his hand her breast,

用手呵护她的乳房，

her left, like a tear of flesh

她的左边，像心脏

wept by the heart,

哭出的一滴肉，

where it hurts,

那儿会痛，

or brushed with his thumb the nut of her nipple,

从没用拇指轻刷她乳头的螺母，

or drank intoxicating liquors from her navel.

或从她的肚脐里喝醉人的醇酒。

Or christened the Pole Star in her name,

从没以她的名字给北极星命名，

or shielded the mask of her face like a flame,

或者像火焰或火引子遮住

a pilot light,

她脸庞的面具，

or stayed the night,

从没通宵不睡，

or steered her back to that house of his,

或者把她引回他的屋子，

or said “Don’t ask me how it is

或者说“别问我喜欢你

I like you.

是怎样的。

I just might do.”

我就只会这样做。”

How he never figured out a fireproof plan,

他怎么就从没想出一个防火方案，

or unravelled her hand, as if her hand

或解开她的手，好像她的手

were a solid ball

是一个银箔

of silver foil

包着的实心球，

and discovered a lifeline hiding inside it,

里面藏着一条生命线，

and measured the trace of his own alongside it.

而他把自己的线贴着它对比。

But said some things and never meant them –

然而话是说了一些，却从没什么意思——

sweet nothings anybody could have mentioned.

任何人都可以顺口说的甜言蜜语。

And left unsaid some things he should have spoken,

而他本应说的一些话他却没说，

about the heart, where it hurt exactly, and how often.

至于心，它究竟怎么痛，多么频繁。