望著雨燕沖擊聖凱瑟琳教堂，
Watching the swifts storm St. Catherine’s Church,
它高聳的墻用磚和白石砌起
its lofty walls raised of brick and white stone
──一座未完成的教堂，地震
—an unfinished basilica, earthquakes
和火災侵擾它，耳堂
and fires beset it, the transept
和塔樓從未建造──我想：
and tower were never built—I thought:
雨燕一邊以牠們的瘋狂、混亂、雄偉
the swifts in their mad, haphazard, grand
對這座哥特式結構发動襲擊，一邊以牠們
attack on the Gothic structure and in their whistles,
絕對地非人性的呼嘯、尖叫和粗魯
shrill and coarse, utterly un-human,
與手機鈴聲和舉辦
competing with cell ringtones
最後音樂會的歌唱的黑鳥競爭，
and singing blackbirds, giving their final concert,
乃是狂喜的形象，但不是狂喜本身，
are the image of ecstasy, but not ecstasy itself,
牠們不可能狂喜，牠們不想狂喜──
they can’t be, they don’t want to be—
牠們不是十字架的聖約翰或亞歷山大的凱瑟琳
they aren’t John of the Cross or Catherine of Alexandria
或錫耶納的凱瑟琳，牠們不知道充實或虛空，
or Catherine of Siena, they know neither fullness nor void,
懷疑或追求，絕望或歡欣。
doubt and pursuit, despair and rapture.
這些雨燕屬於普通雨燕種，
These swifts are of the species Apus apus,
牠們類似燕子但沒有
they resemble swallows but share
親緣關系，牠們無法
no kinship, they’re unable
橫越大地，牠們只知道一件事──飛啊飛，
to navigate on land, they know only one thing—flight,
只知道無窮盡地向頭頂上升騰，
only the endless soaring overhead
要求觀看者帶著一點嚴肅
that demands a spectator both slightly sober
和一點兒受感動，牠們需要一隻眼睛和一顆心；
and a little touched, they need an eye and a heart;
眼睛必須追蹤黑暗導彈的軌道，
the eye must trace the trajectories of dark missiles,
太空船粉碎成一片片
the trail of a spaceship smashed
神經兮兮的黑暗物質碎屑的蹤跡，
into tiny shards of dark nervous matter,
而心一定要用它不可缺少的東西維持它們，
and the heart must sustain them with what it cannot
那就是熱情，從而得到加強，
lack, enthusiasm, and thus fortified,
雨燕和觀看者的心有那麽一瞬間聯系起來，
the swifts and the observer’s heart join for a brief moment
在一個不大可能的契約中，在對世界的
in an unlikely contract, in admiration
讚嘆中，而世界似乎已在一個六月底的黃昏
for a world that has decided on a late June evening,
決定若無其事地向我們披露
so it seems, to reveal before us, nonchalantly,
其狂熱地保守的秘密之一，
one of its zealously kept secrets
就在黑夜帶著蚊子和無知，
before night returns, mosquitoes and ignorance,,
帶著我這未完成、不確定
and my life, unfinished, uncertain,
有歡樂和憂懼、有難以遏止、
made of joy and fear, of ceaseless,
難以滿足的好奇心和未知數的生命重返之前；
unsated curiosity, what’s coming next;
但現在白天的百葉窗砰地關上
but now the day’s shutters bang closed
（而我已經說得太多）。
(and I’ve already said too much).