八月中。夜晚。雨落下。

Mid-August. Evening. Rain falling.

街道，冷豔的綢緎，橫於屋前。

Cold, bright silk where the street fronts a house.

屋後，雨水洗刷粗燥的枝葉，

Out back, it laves and slicks the parched leaves of the trees.

零落懸掛於夏日的盡頭。

Ragged hang of summer’s end.

我斜倚詩篇的門廊，

I lean against the doorway of the poem,

傾聽雨聲啪嗒作響。

listening to the old patter.

（我的貓兒澤珂，帝王般舒展慵懶，

My cat, Zeke, lays himself out imperially.

十一磅重的身軀，十一磅重的灰煙一團。

Eleven pounds of grey smoke

耳朵兩簇，尾巴一卷毛絨。）

with tufted ears and a curved plume of a tail.

此刻，微風一縷，

Now, a slight wind,

天帝的風鈴吟誦如遙遠的鐘聲。

and The Emperor of Heaven’s chimes intone like distant bells,

天廷的樂師們彈響四千年古樂

his court musician’s 4000-year-old pentatonic scale

樂聲泛起清澈漣漪。

pealing in slow, clear ripples.

不經意，觸碰琴弦——

Occasionally, a chord.

我活在每一天我活在永遠。

Every day I live I live forever.