On the country roads outside Beijing

如果你在京郊的鄉村路上漫遊

you’re sure to spot sheep

你會經常遇見羊群

scattered over fields, like unmelted snow

牠們在田野中散開，像不化的雪

or swollen blooms burst open.

像膨脹的綻開的花朵

They cross the road in clumps,

或是縮成一團穿過公路，被吆喝著

the herdsman barking them down

滾下塵土飛揚的溝渠

a weedy ditch, tripping and tumbling

through the dust.

我從來沒有注意過牠們

直到有一次我開車開到一輛卡車的後面

I never paid much attention

在一個飄雪的下午

until one afternoon

這一次我看清了牠們的眼睛

in flurries of snow

（而牠們也在上面看著我）

I nosed close behind a sheep truck,

那樣溫良，那樣安靜

the dark eyes gazing down

像是全然不知牠們將被帶到什麼地方

gentle and quiet, not knowing

對於我的到來甚至懷有

where they were headed.

幾分孩子似的好奇

They turned toward me then,

curious as children.

我放慢了車速

我看著牠們

I let the car drift back

消失在愈來愈大的雪花中

through the thickening curtain of snow

and watched them disappear.