There in the attic of forgotten shapes

在閣樓上被遺忘的形狀中間

(Old coats in plastic, hat boxes, fur capes

（罩著塑料的舊大衣，禮帽盒，毛皮斗篷

Amongst the smells of mothballs and cigars),

散發出樟腦球和雪茄的味道）

I saw the doll house of our early years,

我看到了我們小時候的娃娃屋，

With which my mother and my aunt had played,

母親和姨母曾以它為玩伴，

And later where my sister and I made

後來，我和姐姐與它輕松度過

The towering grown-up hours to smile and pass:

想像中碩大的成人時光：

The little beds, the tin-foil looking glass,

小床，錫紙鏡子，

Bookcases stamped in ink upon the walls,

書櫃用墨水印在牆上，

Mismatched chairs where sat the jointed dolls,

椅子並不配套，關節靈活的娃娃們坐在上面，

The clock whose face, no larger than a dime,

掛鐘的臉盤不如一角硬幣大，

Had, for all these years, kept the same time.

時隔多年，還保持著相同時間。

I remembered how we set the resin food

我記得我們怎樣把塑料食物

Atop a table of stained balsa wood,

擺在沾有汙跡的輕木桌子上，

The shiny turkey hollow to the tap,

油亮的空心火雞能咚咚敲響，

The cherry pie baked in a bottle cap.

櫻桃餅盛在瓶蓋裏烘焙。

Now it is time to go to sleep, we spoke,

該睡覺了，我們說，

Parroting the talk of older folk,

模仿長輩的語氣，

And laid the dolls out fully-clothed in bed

然後把娃娃不脫衣服就放到床上，

After their teeth were brushed, and prayers were said,

先給他們刷牙，再念睡前祈禱，

And flipped the switch on the low-wattage sun.

接著關掉低瓦數的太陽。

But in the night we’d have something break in,

夜間，我們會讓什麼東西闖入，

Kidnap the baby or purloin the pie—

綁架寶寶，或偷走甜餅——

A tiger, maybe, or a passer by—

一隻老虎，也可能是路人——

Just to make something happen, to move the story.

只消有事情發生，好讓故事繼續。

The dolls awoke, alarmed, took inventory.

娃娃們被驚醒，警覺，清點財產。

If we made something happen every day,

日以繼夜，我們安排著事件，

Or night, it was the game we knew to play,

用我們熟知的遊戲，

Not realizing then how lives accrue,

那時候並不明白，生活由我們所做的

With interest, the smallest things we do.

每一件小事積累，附帶利息。