滯留於屋簷的雨滴

Raindrops linger on the eaves

提醒，晚秋時節，故人故事

recalling in late autumn old people, old stories.

撞開過幾代家門的橡實

These acorns all over the yard

滿院都是

knocked at the doors of many generations.

每一陣風劫掠梳齒一次

Each gust of wind plunders the wardrobe

牛血漆成的櫃子

painted with ox blood,

可做頭飾的鼠牙，一股老味兒

headdresses of rat’s teeth, the unerasable

揮之不去

fragrance of age.

老屋藏秤不藏鐘，卻藏有

Old houses store scales, not bells, yet hide

多少神話，唯瓦拾回到

how many myths, only to restore house-tiles

身上，姓比名更重

to the body, family names more important than given names.

許多樂器

Many musical instruments

不在塵世演奏已久，五把鋸

in the dust, unplayed forever, five saws

收入抽屜，十只金碗碰響額頭

slid into drawers, ten golden bowls that bump the forehead with a note

不借鐘聲，不能傳送

forever echoing a bell-toll.

頂著杏花

Four young girls around a willow,

互編髮辮，四位姑娘

apricot flowers on their heads,

圍著一棵垂柳，早年見過的

plaiting each other’s braids;

神，已隨魚缸移走

the gods of those days

moved off with the fish urn.

指著石馬

Pointing to the stone horse

枝上的櫻花，不用

一一數淨，唯有與母親

the many-flowered branch, too many

於同一時光中的投影

to count, only mother’s shadow

cast at the same moment

月滿床頭

moonlight flooded the bed.

在作夢就是讀報的年齡

秋梨按舊譜相撞時，曾

When dreaming was like reading a newspaper,

有人截住它，串為詞

when the autumn pears touched according to the old calendar,

and someone stopped to string them into words.

石棺木車古道城基

Stone coffins, wooden carts, ancient paths, city walls;

越過一片平房屋脊，四合院的

邏輯，縱橫的街巷，是

beyond a range of roofpeaks, the courtyards’

從誰的掌紋上預言了一個廣場

logic crisscrossing streets and lanes

whose palmlines prophesied a square.

一陣扣錯衣襟的冷

A cold draft as if a coat were misbuttoned,

掌心的零錢，散於桌上

按舊城塌垮的石階碼齊

coins from the hand scattered on the table,

便一邊拾撿著，一邊

stacked like the old city’s tumblestone steps

so while gathering them in,

又漏掉更多的欣喜

joy after joy escapes.

把晚年的父親輕輕抱上膝頭

朝向先人朝晨洗面的方向

Set the old man gently on your knees,

胡同裏磨刀人的吆喝聲傳來

facing where ancestors faced each morning to wash,

where from the alley lifts the cry of the knifegrinder.

張望，又一次提高了圍牆……

The more you long to see, the higher the wall rises.