我從廚房的門走出去

I walk out the kitchen door

把一根電線拖入空曠的

trailing extension cords into the open

西南部的凝視——

gaze of the Southwest—

綠色窸窸窣窣，

the green surreptitious,

像蒙著一層卡其布的灰。

dusty like a trenchcoat.

美麗的割草機上

From the beautiful lawnmower

汽油一絲絲蒸發；

float curls of evaporated gasoline;

蝴蝶停住它靈活的斧翼。

the hinged ax of the butterfly pauses.

我是否存在於這一簇貧瘠的

Where am I in the stingy

沙漠金雀花？還是

desert broom, where

橄欖樹空洞的靈魂？

in the blank soul of the olive?

我聽見沙子預備逃跑的聲音……

I hear the sand preparing to flee…

那麼多寂靜的時刻

Many still moments,

排列著，修補

aligned, repair

下午的裂口——

the thin split of an afternoon—

橘色的想像，帶著微弱的敵意

its orange fiction, the dim

女兒在露臺上描畫她心中

aggression of my daughter on the terrace drawing

家的模樣。不知何時

her idea of a home. Somewhere

我學會從一個想法中出走

I learned to walk out of a thought

便不再像一節節火車廂那樣

and not snap back the way

輕易地伸縮複原。

railroad cars telescope into a train.

沙子飛逝，來不及留下影子。

The sand flies so fast, it leaves no shadow.