My brother comes home from work

我兄弟下班回家

and climbs the stairs to our room.

爬上楼梯，走进我们的房间。

I can hear the bed groan and his shoes drop

我听见床板呻吟，他的鞋子

one by one. You can have it, he says.

一只接一只落下。他说，“你尽可以拿去。”

The moonlight streams in the window

月光从窗口涌入，

and his unshaven face is whitened

他满是胡茬的脸被映得苍白

like the face of the moon. He will sleep

如同月亮的面庞。他会睡过

long after noon and waken to find me gone.

午后，醒来时发现我已离去。

Thirty years will pass before I remember

三十年后，我回想起那一刻，

that moment when suddenly I knew each man

才突然明白——每个人

has one brother who dies when he sleeps

都有一个兄弟，在他沉睡时死去，

and sleeps when he rises to face this life,

在他起身面对生活时沉睡，

and that together they are only one man

而他们合在一起，不过是同一个人，

sharing a heart that always labors, hands

共用一颗永远操劳的心，一双

yellowed and cracked, a mouth that gasps

泛黄龟裂的手，一张

for breath and asks, Am I gonna make it?

挣扎呼吸的嘴，追问着，我是否能够撑过去

All night at the ice plant he had fed

整夜在冰厂，他往滑槽里

the chute its silvery blocks, and then I

喂进银白的冰砖，而我

stacked cases of orange soda for the children

为肯塔基的孩子们码起

of Kentucky, one gray boxcar at a time

一箱箱橙味汽水，一列灰色棚车

with always two more waiting. We were twenty

刚装满，又来两列等在那里。那是我们

for such a short time and always in

短暂的二十岁，永远穿着

the wrong clothes, crusted with dirt

不合身的衣服，汗水和尘垢

and sweat. I think now we were never twenty.

结成硬皮。如今想来，我们从未有过二十岁。

In 1948 in the city of Detroit, founded

1948年，在底特律——一座

by de la Mothe Cadillac for the distant purposes

由凯迪拉克（1）为亨利·福特（2）的遥远宏图

of Henry Ford, no one wakened or died,

所建的城市——无人醒来，无人死去，

no one walked the streets or stoked a furnace,

无人在街头行走，无人向炉膛添煤，

for there was no such year, and now

因为根本没有那一年。如今

that year has fallen off all the old newspapers,

它已从所有旧报纸、

calendars, doctors’ appointments, bonds,

日历、医生预约单、债券、

wedding certificates, drivers licenses.

结婚证书、驾驶执照上脱落。

The city slept. The snow turned to ice.

城市沉睡着。雪凝成冰。

The ice to standing pools or rivers

冰化为积水，或是

racing in the gutters. Then bright grass rose

在排水沟中疾走的河流。而后，明亮的草

between the thousands of cracked squares,

从千万块碎裂的方砖间长出，

and that grass died. I give you back 1948.

又迅速枯萎。我把1948年还给你。

I give you all the years from then

我把从那一年起直到未来的所有岁月

to the coming one. Give me back the moon

全都还给你。请把月亮还给我，

with its frail light falling across a face.

还有它柔脆的光，落在脸颊上的光。

Give me back my young brother, hard

请把我年轻的兄弟还给我，他冷酷

and furious, with wide shoulders and a curse

而暴烈，肩膀宽阔，咒骂着

for God and burning eyes that look upon

上帝，燃烧的双眼凝视着

all creation and say, You can have it.

万物，说：“你尽可以拿去。”

（1）凯迪拉克：法国士兵、探险家和法属北美的行政官，底特律市的创始人。 

（2）亨利·福特：美国汽车工程师与企业家，福特汽车公司的建立者。底特律是美国昔日的“汽车城”。