1.

這麼多的灰塵揚起在陽光和

Through sunlight and shadow dust swirls,

陰影之間到處搭起棚架圍上

through the scaffolding raised-up around

木板圍攏古老的殖民地建築

the colonial edifice, over the wooden planks

彷彿要把一磚一木拆去也許

men live on to raise it brick by brick, the imperial

到頭來基本的形態仍然保留

image of it persisting right down, sometimes,

也許翻出泥土中深藏的苦酸

to the bitter soil in the foundation, sometimes finding, too,

神氣的圓頂和寬敞的走廊仍

the noble height of a rotunda, the wide, hollow corridors

對著堵塞的牆壁也許劈開拆毀

leading sometimes to blocked places, which, sometimes,

梯級也許通向更多尋常的屋宇

knocked open, are stairs down to ordinary streets.

我走過廊道有時開放得燦爛

2.

有時收藏起來的盆花走下去

Down familiar alcoves sometimes brimming

影印論文看一眼荷花池歪曲

with blooms sometimes barren I go to xerox

的倒影尖塔的國窗漂成浮萍

glancing at the images caught in the circular pond,

經過早晚淘洗不再是無知的

now showing the round window in the cupola as duckweed drifting,

清白可能已經混濁天真的金魚

day and night caught in the surface, no longer textbook

四處碰撞探索垂死根枝仍然

clean, but murky, the naive goldfish searching

僵纏橙紅色的鱗片時暗時亮

mindlessly around in it, shaking the pliant lotus stems

微張的鰓葉在窗格那兒呼吸

and the roots feeling for earth, swirling orange and white,

把廢墟的意象重新組合可否

gills opening and leeching, in and out of the high window bars.

併成新的建築頭像是荒謬的

3.

權力總那麼可笑相遇在走廊

Might all the pieces of ruins put together present

偶然看一眼荷花池在變化中

yet another architecture? Ridiculous the great heads on money,

思考不避波動也不隨風輕折

laughable the straight faces running things. We pass in this corridor

我知你不信旗幟或滿天烟花

in the changing surface of the pond by chance

我給你文字破碎不自稱寫實

our reflections rippling a little. We’d rather not bend;

不是高樓圍繞的中心只是一池

neither of us is in love with flags or fireworks.

粼粼的水聚散着游動的符號

So what’s left are these fragmentary, unrepresentative words,

not uttered amidst the buildings of chrome and glass, but beside

a circular pond riddled with patterns of moving signs.