人们警告我不要和初恋结婚。

I am warned against marrying

但也有人说

early love. I am also told

这也能修成正果，有时，

it works out, sometimes,

就像树苗可以像编辫子一样缠绕。

for saplings can be braided like hair.

我们会一起弯曲、成长，

We will bend and grow together

当图默角那些百年橡树

while the centuried oaks at Toomer’s Corner

渐渐中空，而那校园古树的毒杀者

hollow, and the college tree poisoner

还在广播里自吹自擂。你戴在我指间的那枚戒指，

brags on the radio. Your ring on my finger,

一颗翠绿的宝石，在夜色中，

a single green stone, is alive

在炉灶上方数字时钟的蓝色辉光下，

in the night, in the blue glow

鲜活如生。然而，

of numbers above the stove. Still,

在另一个平行时空，我们正停留在

in the other present, we are paused

初吻的宿舍沙发上：

on the dorm-room couch of our first kiss:

你正向我扭过身来，

you are twisting toward me,

而那占据我大半生岁月的时光

and the years that make up the majority of my life

感觉隔着好几个行星：

feel planets away:

闪烁着不可思议的距离，

a flicker of incredible distance

我吸入那距离——

I breathe in

它就像，我昨天感受到药物发作，

and it’s kin to when, yesterday, the drugs hit,

当你盯着

when you stared

镜中我的影子，

from my reflection in the mirror

又看向我快要三十岁的、上身赤裸的身体，

to my shirtless body, almost thirty,

你的凝视像一根太粗的针，

your gaze a too-wide needle

徒劳地缝补着什么，而你解释说

stitching in vain, and you explained

我已不在那里——

that I was nowhere—

我被一分为二，四散而去。

doubled, dispersed.

我怎能忘记，即使

How can I forget how even

当你拥我入怀时，

when you wrapped me in your arms,

也无法将其修复。而今天清晨，

this did not fix it. And this morning,

当我醒来，看着你腰侧

when I wake to the black hourglass

纹着的那只黑色沙漏，

tattooed on your side,

依然在问你：我回来了吗？

still asking you, Have I returned?

求你，请诚实地回答我。

please, answer me honestly.

只有你能看见，只有你能知晓。

Only you can see it, only you can know.