My skeleton,

我的骨骼，

who once ached

你一度

with your own growing larger,

在瘋長中疼痛，

are now,

如今

each year

一年年

imperceptibly smaller,

不知不覺縮小，

lighter,

變輕，

absorbed by your own

為自身的專注

concentration.

吸收。

When I danced,

當我起舞，

you danced.

你也起舞。

When you broke,

當你折斷，

I.

我。

And so it was lying down,

它就這樣躺下，

walking,

走路，

climbing the tiring stairs.

攀爬累人的樓梯。

Your jaws. My bread.

你的下頜。我的面包。

Someday you,

有一天，你，

what is left of you,

你的剩餘，

will be flensed of this marriage.

將從這結合中剃淨。

Angular wristbone’s arthritis,

不規則腕骨上的關節炎，

cracked harp of ribcage,

破裂的豎琴般的胸廓，

blunt of heel,

遲鈍的腳踵，

opened bowl of the skull,

頭顱敞開的碗口，

twin platters of pelvis—

盆骨上一對淺盤——

each of you will leave me behind,

每一塊都將離我而去，

at last serene.

歸復寧靜。

What did I know of your days,

我都知道些什麼？有關你的白晝，

your nights,

你的黑夜。

I who held you all my life

我終生把你

inside my hands

攜帶在手

and thought they were empty?

卻以為我雙手空空。

You who held me all your life

你終生把我

in your hands

奉在手掌

as a new mother holds

像一位新生兒的母親

her own unblanketed child,

懷抱赤裸的嬰孩，

not thinking at all.

不必思考。