1
1
Red oak leaves rustle in the wind.
紅櫟樹的葉子在風中摩挲。
Inside a dream, you dream the leaves
在夢中，你夢見片片樹葉
scattered on dirt, and feel it
散落土上，你知道
as an instance of the chance configuration
這是你命中巧合的
to your life. All night you feel
佈局。一整夜有紅色的馬
red horses galloping in your blood,
在你血液中疾馳，
hear a piercing siren, and are in love
你聽到一聲尖鋭的警報，突然
with the inexplicable. You walk
與這費解的世界相愛。你走向
to your car, find the hazard lights
你的車子，發現危險警示燈
blinking: find a rust-brown knife, a trout,
閃爍不停：你找到一把生銹的刀，一條鱒魚，
a smashed violin in your hands.
你手上握著砸爛的小提琴。
And then you wake, inside the dream,
你醒來時依然在夢裏，
to find tangerines ripening in the silence.
看見橘子無聲地成熟。
You peel the leaves of the dream
你剝開夢的層葉
as you would peel the leaves off an onion.
就像剝開洋蔥的表皮。
The layers of the dream have no core,
夢的層衣沒有果心，
no essence. You find a tattoo of
沒有實質。你在自己身上
a red scorpion on your body.
找到一隻紅蠍子紋身。
You simply laugh, shiver in the frost,
你只是笑了一下，在霜凍中打顫，
and step back into the world.
然後轉身走回這世界。
2
2
A Galápagos turtle has nothing to do
一隻加拉巴哥象龜
with the world of the neutrino.
與微中子的世界毫無關聯。
The ecology of the Galápagos Islands
加拉巴哥群島的生態
has nothing to do with a pair of scissors.
與一把剪刀毫無關聯。
The cactus by the window has nothing to do
窗邊的一盆仙人掌
with the invention of the wheel.
與輪子的發明毫無關聯。
The invention of the telescope
望遠鏡的發明
has nothing to do with a red jaguar.
與一隻紅色美洲豹毫無關聯。
No. The invention of the scissors
不。剪刀的發明
has everything to do with the invention of the telescope.
與望遠鏡的發明息息相關。
A map of the world has everything to do
一張世界地圖
with the cactus by the window.
與一盆窗邊的仙人掌息息相關。
The world of the quark has everything to do
夸克的世界
with a jaguar circling in the night.
與夜間逡巡的美洲豹息息相關。
The man who sacrifices himself and throws a Molotov
一個男人舍棄自我面對坦克車
cocktail at a tank has everything to do
投出一枚燃燒瓶
with a sunflower that bends to the light.
與一棵躬身向陽的葵花息息相關。
3
3
Open a window and touch the sun,
打開窗戶碰一碰陽光，
or feel the wet maple leaves flicker in the rain.
或摸一摸被雨水淋濕的泛閃的楓葉。
Watch a blue crab scuttle in clear water,
透過清水看藍蟹倉皇游走，
or find a starfish in the dirt.
或在沙土裏掘出一隻掩埋的海星。
Describe the color green to the colorblind,
向色盲者描述綠色，
or build a house out of pain.
或用痛苦修葺一座房屋。
The world is more than you surmise.
世界永遠始料未及。
Take the pines, green-black, slashed by light,
拿松樹來說，墨緑，接受光的斧鑿，
etched by wind, on the island
風的蝕刻，從一座島嶼
across the riptide body of water.
坐望入海口的沖潮。
Describe the thousand iridescent needles
請向一位眼盲的塔拉烏馬拉白化病人
to a blind albino Tarahumara.
描述那一千枚針葉尖頂的虹彩。
In a bubble chamber, in a magnetic field,
氣泡室裏，磁場中，
an electron spirals and spirals in to the center,
一粒電子向中心畫著螺旋，
but the world is more than such a dance:
但世界遠遠超過這單純的舞蹈：
a spiraling in to the point of origin,
螺旋向內一切回到起源，
a spiraling out in the form of a
螺旋向外形成一片
wet leaf, a blue crab, or a green house.
潮濕的葉子，一隻藍蟹，一座綠房子。
4
4
The heat ripples ripple the cactus.
熱浪蕩漾著仙人掌。
Crushed green glass in a parking lot
停車場碾碎的綠玻璃
or a pile of rhinoceros bones
和一堆犀牛骨
give off heat, though you might not notice it.
同樣釋放熱量，你或許無緣察覺。
The heat of a star can be measured
一顆恆星的熱可依照
under a spectrometer, but not
光譜分類，但思維的熱
the heat of the mind, or the heat of Angkor Wat.
不可，吳哥窟的熱亦不可。
And the rubble of Angkor Wat
但吳哥窟的瓦礫
gives off heat; so do apricot blossoms
散發熱；夜晚開放的杏花
in the night, green fish, black bamboo,
也是如此，還有綠魚，黑竹，
or a fisherman fishing in the snow.
雪中垂釣的漁人。
And an angstrom of shift turns the pleasure
一埃米的差距可將愉悅
into pain. The ice that rips the fingerprint
轉化為痛苦。那奪走你指紋的冰
off your hand gives off heat;
同樣具有熱量；
and so does each moment of existence.
我們每一刻的生存亦不例外。
A red red leaf, disintegrating in the dirt,
一枚鮮紅的葉在泥土中瓦解，
burns with the heat of an acetylene flame.
熱量媲美乙炔的火焰。
And the heat rippling off
而那土坯房的鐵皮屋頂
the tin roof of the adobe house
波動的熱氣
is simply the heat you see.
正如你親眼所見。
5
5
What is the secret to a Guarneri violin?
一把瓜奈里小提琴的秘密是什麽？
Wool dipped in an indigo bath turns bluer
從靛青色染缸裏撈起來的羊毛
when it oxidizes in the air. Marat is
遇空氣氧化後更加靛藍。世人
changed in the minds of the living.
對馬拉的看法已今非昔比。
A shot of tequila is related to Antarctica
豪飲一杯龍舌蘭關乎南極洲
shrinking. A crow in a bar or red snapper on ice
的萎縮。酒吧裏一隻烏鴉和冰上一條笛鯛
is related to the twelve-tone method
關乎十二音列
of composition. And what does the tuning of tympani
作曲法。為一架定音鼓調音
have to do with the smell of your hair?
會否波及你頭髮的氣味？
To feel, at thirty, you have come this far—
三十歲，你深知你已行之至此——
to see a bell over a door as a bell
你看到門上方的鈴鐺即一扇門
over a door, to feel the care and precision
上方的鈴鐺，你充分體會到
of this violin is no mistake, nor is the
這把小提琴的關照和精確，還有那
sincerity and shudder of passion by which you live.
維持你熱情的誠摯和顫慄。
6
6
Crush an apple, crush a possibility.
壓碎一個蘋果，壓碎一種可能性。
No single method can describe the world;
世界無法被單一秩序描述；
therein is the pleasure
於是有樂趣
of chaos, of leaps in the mind.
生於混亂，生於思維的跳躍。
A man slumped over a desk in an attorney’s office
一個人癱倒在律師的辦公桌前
is a parrot fish caught in a seaweed mass.
是一條被海草圍困的鸚哥魚。
A man who turns to the conversation in a bar
一個在吧檯邊攀談的人
is a bluefish hooked on a cigarette.
是一隻叼著香菸的扁鰺。
Is the desire and collapse of desire in an unemployed carpenter
一個失業木匠的慾望以及慾望的毀滅
the instinct of salmon to leap upstream?
是否一尾鮭魚溯流而上的本能？
The smell of eucalyptus can be incorporated
桉樹的氣味會否收編為
into a theory of aggression.
攻擊理論的一種？
The pattern of interference in a hologram
一張全像術形成的干擾圖形
replicates the apple, knife, horsetails on the table,
可以複製一個蘋果，一把刀，桌上的一盆木賊，
but misses the sense of chaos, distorts
它濾掉了視覺的混亂，聚焦
in its singular view. Then
也是一種扭曲。那麽請
touch, shine, dance, sing, be, becoming, be.
觸摸，發光，跳舞，歌唱，在，成為，在。