分开躺着现在，各在分开的床上，

Lying apart now, each in a separate bed,

他拿着一本书，开着灯到很晚，

He with a book, keeping the light on late,

她像一个女孩子梦着童年，

She like a girl dreaming of childhood,

所有人都在别处——仿佛他们在等待

All men elsewhere – it is as if they wait

某件新事：书他拿着未读，

Some new event: the book he holds unread,

她的双眼盯着头顶的阴影。

Her eyes fixed on the shadows overhead.

如同浮渣从昔日的激情中抛出，

Tossed up like flotsam from a former passion,

多么冰冷啊他们躺着。他们几乎从不碰触，

How cool they lie. They hardly ever touch,

即使碰触，也像是告解

Or if they do, it is like a confession

没有什么感觉——或感觉太多。

Of having little feeling – or too much.

贞洁面对着他们，一个目的地

Chastity faces them, a destination

为此他们整个一生都是预备。

For which their whole lives were a preparation.

奇怪地分开，而又奇怪地靠近，

Strangely apart, yet strangely close together,

沉默在他们中间就像一根线，握在手中

Silence between them like a thread to hold

却无法缠绕。而时间自己的一根羽毛

And not wind in. And time itself’s a feather

轻轻地触摸着他们。他们知道自己老了吗，

Touching them gently. Do they know they’re old,

这两个人，我的父亲和母亲

These two who are my father and my mother

我所自来的他们的火焰，如今已然冷却？

Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold?

【译注】

*一体，ONE FLESH，语出《创世》第二章第二十四节：“因此，人要…，与妻子…，…成为一体。 ”（“become one flesh”——NKJV）