The small towns of the strange middle of our lives

那些我們恍惚的中年生活中的小鎮

remain small

依然渺小如故

Streets wintry

即使在夏天

even in summer

街道仍是冰冷

Here the old forget themselves in their own stories

在這兒，老人們在自己的故事裏遺忘了自己

the moon rises

月亮升起

a tall tower lifts its silver planet of water into the sky

一座塔將水的銀色星球托舉到空中

and the children believe in God

孩子們相信上帝

and the cold gardens of his weather

相信上帝的天氣造就的冰冷的花園

What makes of such poor wisdom

是什麼把如此貧乏的智慧

the knife of the will

變成了意志的刀鋒？是什麼

of such poverty the flower without memory

把如此的困頓變成了沒有記憶的花叢？

we do not know

我們不知道

Tonight men wire their bodies to grenades

今晚，男人們把自己的身體包裹成手榴彈

jets sizzle blind from the deck of carriers

噴氣機從航空母艦的甲板上盲目地轟鳴而來

In the streets something dies

街巷裏，有什麼東西死去

If our heads flamed here once

如果我們的頭顱曾在此迸射光芒

If together we rolled

如果我們曾一起翻滾而太陽

and the sun rolled

也像高傲的雄獅在夏日草地上翻滾

like a pride of lions through the summer grass

如果我們的牙齒曾在狂熱中喀嚓作響

and our teeth clicked with a fever

那就是另外一個世界

it was another world

在那兒，日子以你我的名字命名

where the day was called by your name and mine

而愛，則是視線的別名。

and love was another name for sight

現在，在我的身邊

Now the cat stirs beside me

貓在牠沉睡的絨毛中騷動不寧

in the deep hair of its sleep

而我的嫉妒也攪動起

and my envy stirs

我最後的權利

that last of my rights

甚至那脆弱的癲狂

even that frail mania

走得太遠，我無法返回

Too far arrived to go back

我看見我依然是從前的自己

I see that I am what I always was

那個坐在臺階上的平凡的人

that ordinary man on his front steps

在天空那耀眼的混亂之下

bewildered under the bright mess of the heavens

被星星們難以破譯的凶猛的語言所迷惑

by the fierce indecipherable language of its stars