After dinner, you pour tea in your small rice bowl,

吃過晚飯，你們用油膩未清的碗喝茶

tea leaves swirling among the specks,

茶在飯屑中間蕩起緩慢的水弧

like the stream of a marriage midcourse,

像一段婚姻的中游水

too sure to crest its sand-layered banks,

漫不過沙岸日積月累的安全肘

too slow to loosen its deep-rooted reeds.

拔不去蘆葦長相廝守的水下根

We’ve been here, been there, our eyes

我們往來此地，一個用眼睛

seeing what’s to see, what’s not

一個用眼睛以外的眼睛

before night’s curtain.

直到夜的侵蝕完全

After dinner, serenity

晚飯過後就是寧靜

till silence speaks, till sleep.

讓沉默說話，讓睡眠說話

Let this tungsten, its filament white as sunlight,

讓白日高熱的鎢絲烘暖濕涼的夜色

warm the damp, cool shades of night.

用過去的餘燼探照明天的晴雨

Let the embers of the past reveal tomorrow’s skies.

說過去是否可以稱之為選擇

Talk of the past as if chosen.

說將來會不會依然選擇過去

Talk of the future as if past.

晚飯之後亮起了燈

After dinner, light the lamp.

疲勞的臨照延續到吃喝以外

The weary day reclines beyond its food, its drink.

吃飯的人，一直飽足到深夜

Those who eat stay full till midnight.