Too many rises and falls

有太多興衰

are not recorded in the books

沒有記錄在

that are burned in usual wars.

那些戰爭燒毀的書籍裏。

Has anyone written that crumbs

是否有人寫過

thrown from a window fall faster

從窗口丟出去的麵包屑

than snowflakes, that waterfalls are merely

墜落的速度大於雪花，瀑布只是受到

victims of their names? They write of the fall

名字的牽累？他們書寫帝國

of empires and epochs but not

和時代的衰敗，但沒人去寫一位老人

of the old man who looks at a toy

他看見了推土機

dug up by a bulldozer.

挖出來的玩具。

Traffic-lights cannot stop time

交通燈無法阻止時間，

and our uncertainty is just

我們的不確定僅僅是

a way of existence for secrets.

一種秘密的存在方式。

Fear exists in the distance

恐懼總是在遠方

when soot splits off

當灰燼

from the sparks flying skyward,

從升騰的火星中剝離，

but no one so far has written

可是至今無人

a tractate on the candles’ smoke

用論文去描寫蠟燭的輕煙

that melts into night

如何融入黑夜

or on the drops of wax

或滴落的蠟液

that harden on our shoes;

如何在我們鞋子上凝固；

everyone speaks of the flame

每個人都在談論

that illuminates our faces.

那照亮我們面龐的火焰。