Last year’s

翻出去年做的那件織錦繡袍

cheong-sam

袍子染上衣櫃的檀木薰香

from the closet scented with sandalwood,

香氣淡淡滲出

the gold brocade faintly redolent

一段舊日戀情的憶記

of an old romance, fading

衣上金絲繡線已略見黯褪

like distant lights trembling in wind.

迢遙的夜燈在風裏顫動

Who softly calls your nickname?

是誰依依喚起你兒時的小名？

In moonlight brittle as thirty years ago

披上你的黑絨斗篷

throw on your black velvet cape

月光薄脆，像三十年前的月光

and pass tonight through a windy forest,

這夜你穿過起風的樹林

where black branches stretch their claws

光枯的枝芽自樹幹伸出指爪

across the late winter sky of a foreign land.

撐開一個異鄉的殘冬天空

Keep going toward the center of the woods,

你向樹林的更深處步進

the tick of insects in the weeds

草叢中小蟲窸窣

sharp as a crowd’s whispers, rasping

細碎如眾人私語竊竊

the legend of an old Asian woman,

一個東方女子老去的傳奇

her wrists withered vines too frail to grasp,

枯藤似的手腕乾瘦不滿一握

her dress hem soaked in forest dew.

裙襬拖行野地露水盡濕

The scattered lamps of the village dim.

村落燈火零星就要睡去

Step by step you enter night’s chamber.

你一步一步走入夜的心臟

The path vanishes in deep trees.

樹林盡處全無人跡

Till the end of heaven, you own this grave

地老天荒你也還有這座舊墳

where moss enters every crevice.

墳前青苔逐隙而生

Your fingertips brush its rough headstone,

麻石碑磨傷你的指尖，但你細細

recalling that night above the sea,

撫摸，記否那個海上的月夜

full moon, your lover’s firm body

你如何撫摸情人結實的男體

pressing you against the mirror,

他壓你，你貼在鏡上

the flesh of your cold back scorching his touch.

背脊冰涼肉體觸手火燙

Old lovers a thousand

曾是你情人的都已先你死去

li

屍骨盡在千里之外

off

蛆蟲和磷火此刻與你分享著愛情

and dead long before you, you’re left

你嘩聲垮下碎成一堆金粉

to maggots and phosphorescence.

烈風刮起一場黃砂

When you crumble in a heap of golden dust

黃砂金粉鋪天蓋地灑下

the wind whirls up with sand, you’ll sift down

滿山遍野都是今日

on everything, on fields, mountains,

on this one day that’s forever.