你不再從

You don’t see yourself

早晨的鏡子裏

in the morning mirror

照見自己。你告訴

anymore. And you tell

自己你並不忠實，

yourself you’re disloyal,

你的耳朵不靈，

that you have a tin ear,

分辨不出反諷

and can’t tell irony

和牢騷。那又怎樣？

from kvetch. So what?

在七十歲，你不再

At seventy, you no longer

指望老朋友

expect old friends

愛你，並且早已

to love you, and you’re

厭倦了往日的軼事

sick of stories of the past

因為它們已經

because they no longer

無關緊要。那些

matter. Nor do

時常落在你身上的

the day-long silences

終日的靜默也不再

that sometimes fall on

像清涼的雨。

you like a cool rain.

但你無法止步於此。

But you can’t stop there.

准確地說，

To get it exactly right,

你必須在窗前站定，

you have to stand before

在陽光偉大的平紋

the window, before

籠照樹林之前；

the great scrim of sunlight

葉的綠牆：

falling through the woods;

橡樹，山胡桃，羽狀的

the green wall of leaves:

樸樹，野櫻桃；

oak, hickory, feathery

山茱萸正結出果實；

hackberry, the wild cherry;

鳥投出影子的飛鏢；

the dogberry fruiting;

聽密集的野花

darting shadows of birds;

在潮濕山坡下

hearing the thick rush of

翻湧；嘗一口

wild flowers down the damp

苦澀的，熱了三次的

slope; tasting the bitter

黑咖啡，中午已臨近。

bite of black, thrice-

好運是你妻子的

boiled, late-morning coffee.

笑聲。還有那黃

Good luck’s your wife’s

眼睛，一團灰霧的貓，

laughter. And the yellow-

「紐倫堡的名歌手」，他

eyed, grey smoke cat,

把一隻鐘藏在肚子裏

der Meistersinger

確知每一刻的時辰。

, who

而你肌肉發達的

keeps a clock in his belly

綠眼睛的小貓，牛奶上的

and knows what time it is.

雲，她每天都在

And your small, muscular,

客廳的地板上尋找

green-eyed, clouds-on-milk

宇宙精確的中心，

cat, who seeks, each day

誤差不過一兩寸，

on the living room floor,

偏東或偏西，偏北

the exact center of the universe,

或偏南，她低低的

give or take an inch

縮在上面，窩起

or two, east or west, north

她的長爪，縮成一塊圓石，

or south, curling herself

彷彿要將它清楚地標記，

under on it, folding in

牢牢守在原地。

her long paws, bouldering in,

as if to mark it clearly,

hold it firmly in place.