那些我們恍惚的中年生活中的小鎮

The small towns of the strange middle of our lives

依然渺小如故

remain small

即使在夏天

Streets wintry

街道仍是冰冷

even in summer

在這兒，老人們在自己的故事裏遺忘了自己

Here the old forget themselves in their own stories

月亮升起

the moon rises

一座塔將水的銀色星球托舉到空中

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

孩子們相信上帝

and the children believe in God

相信上帝的天氣造就的冰冷的花園

and the cold gardens of his weather

是什麼把如此貧乏的智慧

What makes of such poor wisdom

變成了意志的刀鋒？是什麼

the knife of the will

把如此的困頓變成了沒有記憶的花叢？

of such poverty the flower without memory

我們不知道

we do not know

今晚，男人們把自己的身體包裹成手榴彈

Tonight men wire their bodies to grenades

噴氣機從航空母艦的甲板上盲目地轟鳴而來

jets sizzle blind from the deck of carriers

街巷裏，有什麼東西死去

In the streets something dies

如果我們的頭顱曾在此迸射光芒

If our heads flamed here once

如果我們曾一起翻滾而太陽

If together we rolled

也像高傲的雄獅在夏日草地上翻滾

and the sun rolled

如果我們的牙齒曾在狂熱中喀嚓作響

like a pride of lions through the summer grass

那就是另外一個世界

and our teeth clicked with a fever

在那兒，日子以你我的名字命名

it was another world

而愛，則是視線的別名。

where the day was called by your name and mine

現在，在我的身邊

and love was another name for sight

貓在牠沉睡的絨毛中騷動不寧

Now the cat stirs beside me

而我的嫉妒也攪動起

in the deep hair of its sleep

我最後的權利

and my envy stirs

甚至那脆弱的癲狂

that last of my rights

走得太遠，我無法返回

even that frail mania

我看見我依然是從前的自己

Too far arrived to go back

那個坐在臺階上的平凡的人

I see that I am what I always was

在天空那耀眼的混亂之下

that ordinary man on his front steps

被星星們難以破譯的凶猛的語言所迷惑

bewildered under the bright mess of the heavens

by the fierce indecipherable language of its stars