Raindrops linger on the eaves

滯留於屋簷的雨滴

recalling in late autumn old people, old stories.

提醒，晚秋時節，故人故事

These acorns all over the yard

撞開過幾代家門的橡實

knocked at the doors of many generations.

滿院都是

Each gust of wind plunders the wardrobe

每一陣風劫掠梳齒一次

painted with ox blood,

牛血漆成的櫃子

headdresses of rat’s teeth, the unerasable

可做頭飾的鼠牙，一股老味兒

fragrance of age.

揮之不去

Old houses store scales, not bells, yet hide

老屋藏秤不藏鐘，卻藏有

how many myths, only to restore house-tiles

多少神話，唯瓦拾回到

to the body, family names more important than given names.

身上，姓比名更重

Many musical instruments

許多樂器

in the dust, unplayed forever, five saws

不在塵世演奏已久，五把鋸

slid into drawers, ten golden bowls that bump the forehead with a note

收入抽屜，十只金碗碰響額頭

forever echoing a bell-toll.

不借鐘聲，不能傳送

Four young girls around a willow,

頂著杏花

apricot flowers on their heads,

互編髮辮，四位姑娘

plaiting each other’s braids;

圍著一棵垂柳，早年見過的

the gods of those days

神，已隨魚缸移走

moved off with the fish urn.

指著石馬

Pointing to the stone horse

枝上的櫻花，不用

the many-flowered branch, too many

一一數淨，唯有與母親

to count, only mother’s shadow

於同一時光中的投影

cast at the same moment

月滿床頭

moonlight flooded the bed.

在作夢就是讀報的年齡

When dreaming was like reading a newspaper,

秋梨按舊譜相撞時，曾

when the autumn pears touched according to the old calendar,

有人截住它，串為詞

and someone stopped to string them into words.

石棺木車古道城基

Stone coffins, wooden carts, ancient paths, city walls;

越過一片平房屋脊，四合院的

beyond a range of roofpeaks, the courtyards’

邏輯，縱橫的街巷，是

logic crisscrossing streets and lanes

從誰的掌紋上預言了一個廣場

whose palmlines prophesied a square.

一陣扣錯衣襟的冷

A cold draft as if a coat were misbuttoned,

掌心的零錢，散於桌上

coins from the hand scattered on the table,

按舊城塌垮的石階碼齊

stacked like the old city’s tumblestone steps

便一邊拾撿著，一邊

so while gathering them in,

又漏掉更多的欣喜

joy after joy escapes.

把晚年的父親輕輕抱上膝頭

Set the old man gently on your knees,

朝向先人朝晨洗面的方向

facing where ancestors faced each morning to wash,

胡同裏磨刀人的吆喝聲傳來

where from the alley lifts the cry of the knifegrinder.

張望，又一次提高了圍牆……

The more you long to see, the higher the wall rises.