那些整夜

Those people

蜷曲在舊草席上的人們

curled all night on old straw mats,

憑藉什麼悟性

by what epiphany

睜開了兩隻泥沼一樣的眼睛。

do they open their marshlike eyes.

睡的味兒還縮在屋角。

The smell of sleep still crouches

靠哪個部件的力氣

in the corner of the room.

他們直立起來

What clockwork

准確無誤地

makes them straighten up,

拿到了食物和水。

fetching food and water

so precisely.

需要多麼大的智慧

他們在昨天的褲子裏

How much wisdom does it take

取出與他有關的一串鑰匙。

to fish a string of keys

需要什麼樣的連貫力

from yesterday’s trousers.

他們上路出門

What momentum

每一個交叉路口

gets each one on the road,

都不能使他們迷失。

not missing a single intersection.

我坐在理性的清晨。

I dwell in the morning of reason,

我看見在我以外

looking past myself.

是人的河水。

A river of people.

沒有一個人向我問路

Not one asks me for directions,

雖然我從沒遇到

though I never met wisdom

大過拇指甲的智慧。

much bigger than a thumbnail.

金屬的質地顯然太軟。

Steel’s too soft

是什麼念頭支撐了他們

for what braces them,

頭也不回地

striding into the dust of that wounding sun,

走進太陽那傷人的灰塵。

their faces straight ahead.

災害和幸運

Calamities and felicities

都懸在那最細的線上。

hang by the thinnest threads.

太陽，像膽囊

The sun, like a gallbladder,

升起來了。

rises.