我兄弟下班回家

My brother comes home from work

爬上楼梯，走进我们的房间。

and climbs the stairs to our room.

我听见床板呻吟，他的鞋子

I can hear the bed groan and his shoes drop

一只接一只落下。他说，“你尽可以拿去。”

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

月光从窗口涌入，

The moonlight streams in the window

他满是胡茬的脸被映得苍白

and his unshaven face is whitened

如同月亮的面庞。他会睡过

like the face of the moon. He will sleep

午后，醒来时发现我已离去。

long after noon and waken to find me gone.

三十年后，我回想起那一刻，

Thirty years will pass before I remember

才突然明白——每个人

that moment when suddenly I knew each man

都有一个兄弟，在他沉睡时死去，

has one brother who dies when he sleeps

在他起身面对生活时沉睡，

and sleeps when he rises to face this life,

而他们合在一起，不过是同一个人，

and that together they are only one man

共用一颗永远操劳的心，一双

sharing a heart that always labors, hands

泛黄龟裂的手，一张

yellowed and cracked, a mouth that gasps

挣扎呼吸的嘴，追问着，我是否能够撑过去

for breath and asks, Am I gonna make it?

整夜在冰厂，他往滑槽里

All night at the ice plant he had fed

喂进银白的冰砖，而我

the chute its silvery blocks, and then I

为肯塔基的孩子们码起

stacked cases of orange soda for the children

一箱箱橙味汽水，一列灰色棚车

of Kentucky, one gray boxcar at a time

刚装满，又来两列等在那里。那是我们

with always two more waiting. We were twenty

短暂的二十岁，永远穿着

for such a short time and always in

不合身的衣服，汗水和尘垢

the wrong clothes, crusted with dirt

结成硬皮。如今想来，我们从未有过二十岁。

and sweat. I think now we were never twenty.

1948年，在底特律——一座

In 1948 in the city of Detroit, founded

由凯迪拉克（1）为亨利·福特（2）的遥远宏图

by de la Mothe Cadillac for the distant purposes

所建的城市——无人醒来，无人死去，

of Henry Ford, no one wakened or died,

无人在街头行走，无人向炉膛添煤，

no one walked the streets or stoked a furnace,

因为根本没有那一年。如今

for there was no such year, and now

它已从所有旧报纸、

that year has fallen off all the old newspapers,

日历、医生预约单、债券、

calendars, doctors’ appointments, bonds,

结婚证书、驾驶执照上脱落。

wedding certificates, drivers licenses.

城市沉睡着。雪凝成冰。

The city slept. The snow turned to ice.

冰化为积水，或是

The ice to standing pools or rivers

在排水沟中疾走的河流。而后，明亮的草

racing in the gutters. Then bright grass rose

从千万块碎裂的方砖间长出，

between the thousands of cracked squares,

又迅速枯萎。我把1948年还给你。

and that grass died. I give you back 1948.

我把从那一年起直到未来的所有岁月

I give you all the years from then

全都还给你。请把月亮还给我，

to the coming one. Give me back the moon

还有它柔脆的光，落在脸颊上的光。

with its frail light falling across a face.

请把我年轻的兄弟还给我，他冷酷

Give me back my young brother, hard

而暴烈，肩膀宽阔，咒骂着

and furious, with wide shoulders and a curse

上帝，燃烧的双眼凝视着

for God and burning eyes that look upon

万物，说：“你尽可以拿去。”

all creation and say, You can have it.

（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”。