Night sweats, sweat between my breasts;

夜在出汗，汗溼我的雙乳；

the sheet slick, my mind

牀單滑溜溜的，我的意識

a mattress left out and pecked open,

像一個忘在屋外的牀墊

stripped of its stuffing

被院子裡那棵高高的楊樹上

by magpies battening their nest

精心裝修的喜鵲一家

high in the courtyard’s cottonwood.

一點點啄散，掏空。

2 A.M., 3 A.M., 4,

凌晨兩點，三點，四……

Don’t miss the bus, don’t miss the bus,

別錯過班車，別錯過班車，

my father talmudically warns

父親從他夯實的新墳裡

from beyond his freshly tamped grave

用猶太教律法口吻提醒我，

as an owl’s twin searchbeams

貓頭鷹眼中射出一對光束

exhume the dark. The nightly raid

掘開黑暗。牠的夜襲

begins with a series of hoots.

以一陣呼嘯開始。

The sheets are soaked. The heart

牀單浸溼了。我的心

I gave you, the one currently

給了你，此刻

confined in me, fibrillates

它囚禁在我體內，纖維顫動著

non-stop like a tin spoon

像一只錫勺

banged between iron bars,

在鐵窗間不停敲擊，

self-celebration morphing

自我慶祝進化成

into solitary panicked protest

一刻孤獨而驚惶的抗議

in shadow of the owl’s launch.

隨著貓頭鷹的影子起飛。