Red beans in a flat basket catch sunlight—

紅豆在笸籃裏捕捉陽光——

we enter a village built in the shape

我們走入一座水牛形的

of an ox, stride up an arched bridge

村莊，越過白色百合花

over white lilies; along houses, water,

大步踏上拱橋；沿著依水的住屋

coursing in alleyways, connects ponds.

曲折的巷弄連接片片池塘。

Kiwis hang from branches by a moon

綴滿獼猴桃的枝條垂掛

door. We step into a two-story hall

月亮門邊。我們邁進一幢帶有天井

with a light well and sandalwood panels:

和檀木鑲板的兩層小樓：

in a closet off the mahjong room

挨著麻將室的小房間裏

is a bed for clandestine encounters.

一張幽會用的床。

A cassia tree shades a courtyard

一棵黃金雨蔭蔽庭院

corner; phoenix-tail bamboos line

一隅；鳳尾竹排開

the horse-head walls. The branching

掩映馬頭墻。記憶的枝杈

of memory resembles these interconnected

猶似這交錯的

waterways: a chrysanthemum odor

水道：菊花香氣

permeates the air, but I can’t locate it.

在空氣中滲透，但來處不明。

Soldiers fire mortars at enemy bunkers,

兵士向敵人的戰壕發射迫擊炮，

while Afghan farmers pause then resume

與此同時阿富汗的農民停頓片刻又繼續

slicing poppy bulbs and draining resin.

切割罌粟蒴果，收集膠汁。

A caretaker checks on his clients’ lawns

門房例行檢查僱主的草坪

and swimming pools. The army calls—

和游泳池。軍中來電——

he swerves a golf cart into a ditch—

他的高爾夫車一個急轉彎跌進溝渠——

the surf slams against black lava rock,

海浪沖擊黑色的火山岩，

against black lava rock—and a welt

沖擊黑色的火山岩——彷彿鞭子

spreads across his face. Hunting for

抽打過他的臉。當我們四下尋索

a single glow-in-the-dark jigsaw piece,

一塊散佚的夜光拼圖，

we find incompletion a spark.

我們找到缺失的靈感。

We volley an orange Ping-Pong ball

我們接發一只橙色乒乓球

back and forth: hungers and fears

來來回回：飢餓與恐懼

spiral through us, forming a filament

在體內盤升，扭成一根燈絲

by which we heat into cesium light.

把我們加熱成銫的輝光。

And, in the flowing current, we slice

然而，在不息的湍流中，我們切球削球

back and forth—topspin, sidespin—

反反覆覆——上旋，側旋——

the erasure of history on the arcing ball.

歷史在球的弧線中擦除。

Snow on the tips of forsythia dissolves

雪落在銀翹枝頭沒幾個小時

within hours. A kestrel circles overhead,

便消融。一隻紅隼在頭頂徘徊，

while we peer into a canyon and spot

我們張望峽谷，認出洞穴

caves but not a macaw petroglyph.

卻看不到一幅金剛鸚鵡岩刻。

Yesterday, we looked from a mesa tip

昨天，我們從一座方山頂遠眺

across the valley to Chimayó, tin roofs

山谷對面的奇馬約，鐵皮屋頂

glinting in sunlight. Today, willows

在陽光下閃熠。今天，柳樹

extend one-inch shoots; mourning cloaks

抽出一寸新芽；孝衣蝶

flit along the roadside; a red-winged

沿路翻飛；紅翅黑鸝

blackbird calls. Though the March world

在啼叫。三月的世界

leafs and branches, I ache at how

散葉開枝，但生之將死

mortality fissures the lungs:

以疼痛分裂我的肺：

and the pangs resemble ice forming,

那陣痛類似冰的形成，

ice crystals, ice that resembles the wings

冰之結晶，狀如

of cicadas, ice flowers, drift ice, ice

蟬翼，冰花，浮冰，冰

that forms at the edges of a rock

在中流的岩石邊緣

midstream, thawing hole in ice, young

結成，中空的冰，初生的

shore ice, crack in ice caused by the tides.

岸冰，冰隨潮水鬆動。

Scissors snip white chrysanthemum stalks—

剪刀掐斷白菊的命脈——

auburn through a black tea-bowl rim—

黑茶碗的口沿泛出赭紅——

is water to Siberian irises as art

水之於西伯利亞鳶尾是否等同於藝術

is to life? You have not taken care

之於生命？你還沒有

of tying your shoes—a few nanoseconds,

繫好鞋帶——幾奈秒，

a few thousand years—water catlaps

幾千年——塔夫河口的水

up the Taf Estuary to a boathouse—

輕輕舔舐著流向船屋——

herring shimmer and twitch in a rising net—

鯡魚閃閃發光在上升的漁網中摔打——

rubbing blackthorn oil on her breasts—

把黑刺李花油塗在她的胸脯上——

in a shed, words; below the cliff, waves—

屋簷下，詞語；崖底，海浪——

where å i åa ä e ö means island in the river—

它吞吐著å i åa ä e ö訴說河中之島——

while a veteran rummages through trash,

與此同時一個老兵在垃圾堆裏翻找，

on Mars, a robot arm digs for ice—

機械手臂在火星上挖掘冰——

when the bow lifts from the D string,

當琴弓從D弦上擡起，

“This is no way to live,” echoes in his ears.

「生活本不該如此」如是在他耳畔迴盪。

Sandhill cranes call from the marsh,

濕地上傳來沙丘鶴的鳴叫，

then, low, out of the southwest,

從西南方，低低的，

three appear and drop into the water:

三隻忽然躍起又再跌入水面：

their silhouettes sway in the twilight,

牠們的剪影在夕光中搖曳，

the marsh surface argentine and black.

沼面漆黑鍍著銀光。

Before darkness absorbs it all, I recall

在黑暗吞沒一切之前，我想起

locks inscribed with lovers’ names

那些刻著愛侶姓名的鎖頭

on a waist-high chain extending along

掛在及腰高的鐵鏈上

a path at the top of Yellow Mountain.

循著黃山的一條步道延伸。

She brushes her hair across his chest;

她的長髮在他胸前拂拭；

he runs his tongue along her neck—

他用舌頭親吻她的脖子——

reentering the earth’s atmosphere,

再次衝入大氣層，

a satellite ignites. A wavering line

衛星開始燃燒。一條車河擺動著

of cars issues north out of the bosque.

流出山林駛向北方。

The last shapes of cranes dissolve

最後的鶴影逐漸消溶

into vitreous darkness. Setting aside

於夜的琉璃。我放下

binoculars, I adjust the side-view

望遠鏡，調整車的後照鏡

mirror—our breath fogs the windshield.

——我們的呼吸在擋風玻璃上形成霧氣。

A complex of vibrating strings:

這龐雜的弦之顫動：

this hand, that caress, this silk

這手，這輕撫，這柔滑的輕紗

gauze running across your throat,

擦過你的喉頭，

your eyelids, this season where

你的眼睫，在這個季節

tiny ants swarm large black ones

微小的螞蟻爬滿大黑蟻的軀體

and pull apart their legs. Hail shreds

將牠們肢解。冰雹

the rows of lettuces beyond the fence;

把籬笆裏的萵苣打得七零八落；

water, running through sprinklers,

水從噴灑器噴射，

swirls. A veteran’s wince coincides

扭出漩渦。一個老兵的痛感

with the pang a girl feels when

與一個女孩子的心跳重合

she masters hooked bows in a minuet.

在她掌握一首小步舞曲連弓斷奏的剎那。

And the bowing is a curved line,

琴弓拉出一條曲線，

loop, scrawl, macaw in air. A red-

一個圈，狂草，空氣中的金剛鸚鵡。一隻

winged blackbird nests in the dark;

紅翅黑鸝在黑暗中安窩；

where we pruned branches, starlight

透過我們修剪的枝椏，星光

floods in over the earth curvature.

在大地的弧度上湧現。