紅豆在笸籃裏捕捉陽光——

Red beans in a flat basket catch sunlight—

我們走入一座水牛形的

we enter a village built in the shape

村莊，越過白色百合花

of an ox, stride up an arched bridge

大步踏上拱橋；沿著依水的住屋

over white lilies; along houses, water,

曲折的巷弄連接片片池塘。

coursing in alleyways, connects ponds.

綴滿獼猴桃的枝條垂掛

Kiwis hang from branches by a moon

月亮門邊。我們邁進一幢帶有天井

door. We step into a two-story hall

和檀木鑲板的兩層小樓：

with a light well and sandalwood panels:

挨著麻將室的小房間裏

in a closet off the mahjong room

一張幽會用的床。

is a bed for clandestine encounters.

一棵黃金雨蔭蔽庭院

A cassia tree shades a courtyard

一隅；鳳尾竹排開

corner; phoenix-tail bamboos line

掩映馬頭墻。記憶的枝杈

the horse-head walls. The branching

猶似這交錯的

of memory resembles these interconnected

水道：菊花香氣

waterways: a chrysanthemum odor

在空氣中滲透，但來處不明。

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

兵士向敵人的戰壕發射迫擊炮，

Soldiers fire mortars at enemy bunkers,

與此同時阿富汗的農民停頓片刻又繼續

while Afghan farmers pause then resume

切割罌粟蒴果，收集膠汁。

slicing poppy bulbs and draining resin.

門房例行檢查僱主的草坪

A caretaker checks on his clients’ lawns

和游泳池。軍中來電——

and swimming pools. The army calls—

他的高爾夫車一個急轉彎跌進溝渠——

he swerves a golf cart into a ditch—

海浪沖擊黑色的火山岩，

the surf slams against black lava rock,

沖擊黑色的火山岩——彷彿鞭子

against black lava rock—and a welt

抽打過他的臉。當我們四下尋索

spreads across his face. Hunting for

一塊散佚的夜光拼圖，

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

我們找到缺失的靈感。

we find incompletion a spark.

我們接發一只橙色乒乓球

We volley an orange Ping-Pong ball

來來回回：飢餓與恐懼

back and forth: hungers and fears

在體內盤升，扭成一根燈絲

spiral through us, forming a filament

把我們加熱成銫的輝光。

by which we heat into cesium light.

然而，在不息的湍流中，我們切球削球

And, in the flowing current, we slice

反反覆覆——上旋，側旋——

back and forth—topspin, sidespin—

歷史在球的弧線中擦除。

the erasure of history on the arcing ball.

雪落在銀翹枝頭沒幾個小時

Snow on the tips of forsythia dissolves

便消融。一隻紅隼在頭頂徘徊，

within hours. A kestrel circles overhead,

我們張望峽谷，認出洞穴

while we peer into a canyon and spot

卻看不到一幅金剛鸚鵡岩刻。

caves but not a macaw petroglyph.

昨天，我們從一座方山頂遠眺

Yesterday, we looked from a mesa tip

山谷對面的奇馬約，鐵皮屋頂

across the valley to Chimayó, tin roofs

在陽光下閃熠。今天，柳樹

glinting in sunlight. Today, willows

抽出一寸新芽；孝衣蝶

extend one-inch shoots; mourning cloaks

沿路翻飛；紅翅黑鸝

flit along the roadside; a red-winged

在啼叫。三月的世界

blackbird calls. Though the March world

散葉開枝，但生之將死

leafs and branches, I ache at how

以疼痛分裂我的肺：

mortality fissures the lungs:

那陣痛類似冰的形成，

and the pangs resemble ice forming,

冰之結晶，狀如

ice crystals, ice that resembles the wings

蟬翼，冰花，浮冰，冰

of cicadas, ice flowers, drift ice, ice

在中流的岩石邊緣

that forms at the edges of a rock

結成，中空的冰，初生的

midstream, thawing hole in ice, young

岸冰，冰隨潮水鬆動。

shore ice, crack in ice caused by the tides.

剪刀掐斷白菊的命脈——

Scissors snip white chrysanthemum stalks—

黑茶碗的口沿泛出赭紅——

auburn through a black tea-bowl rim—

水之於西伯利亞鳶尾是否等同於藝術

is water to Siberian irises as art

之於生命？你還沒有

is to life? You have not taken care

繫好鞋帶——幾奈秒，

of tying your shoes—a few nanoseconds,

幾千年——塔夫河口的水

a few thousand years—water catlaps

輕輕舔舐著流向船屋——

up the Taf Estuary to a boathouse—

鯡魚閃閃發光在上升的漁網中摔打——

herring shimmer and twitch in a rising net—

把黑刺李花油塗在她的胸脯上——

rubbing blackthorn oil on her breasts—

屋簷下，詞語；崖底，海浪——

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

它吞吐著å i åa ä e ö訴說河中之島——

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

與此同時一個老兵在垃圾堆裏翻找，

while a veteran rummages through trash,

機械手臂在火星上挖掘冰——

on Mars, a robot arm digs for ice—

當琴弓從D弦上擡起，

when the bow lifts from the D string,

「生活本不該如此」如是在他耳畔迴盪。

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

濕地上傳來沙丘鶴的鳴叫，

Sandhill cranes call from the marsh,

從西南方，低低的，

then, low, out of the southwest,

三隻忽然躍起又再跌入水面：

three appear and drop into the water:

牠們的剪影在夕光中搖曳，

their silhouettes sway in the twilight,

沼面漆黑鍍著銀光。

the marsh surface argentine and black.

在黑暗吞沒一切之前，我想起

Before darkness absorbs it all, I recall

那些刻著愛侶姓名的鎖頭

locks inscribed with lovers’ names

掛在及腰高的鐵鏈上

on a waist-high chain extending along

循著黃山的一條步道延伸。

a path at the top of Yellow Mountain.

她的長髮在他胸前拂拭；

She brushes her hair across his chest;

他用舌頭親吻她的脖子——

he runs his tongue along her neck—

再次衝入大氣層，

reentering the earth’s atmosphere,

衛星開始燃燒。一條車河擺動著

a satellite ignites. A wavering line

流出山林駛向北方。

of cars issues north out of the bosque.

最後的鶴影逐漸消溶

The last shapes of cranes dissolve

於夜的琉璃。我放下

into vitreous darkness. Setting aside

望遠鏡，調整車的後照鏡

binoculars, I adjust the side-view

——我們的呼吸在擋風玻璃上形成霧氣。

mirror—our breath fogs the windshield.

這龐雜的弦之顫動：

A complex of vibrating strings:

這手，這輕撫，這柔滑的輕紗

this hand, that caress, this silk

擦過你的喉頭，

gauze running across your throat,

你的眼睫，在這個季節

your eyelids, this season where

微小的螞蟻爬滿大黑蟻的軀體

tiny ants swarm large black ones

將牠們肢解。冰雹

and pull apart their legs. Hail shreds

把籬笆裏的萵苣打得七零八落；

the rows of lettuces beyond the fence;

水從噴灑器噴射，

water, running through sprinklers,

扭出漩渦。一個老兵的痛感

swirls. A veteran’s wince coincides

與一個女孩子的心跳重合

with the pang a girl feels when

在她掌握一首小步舞曲連弓斷奏的剎那。

she masters hooked bows in a minuet.

琴弓拉出一條曲線，

And the bowing is a curved line,

一個圈，狂草，空氣中的金剛鸚鵡。一隻

loop, scrawl, macaw in air. A red-

紅翅黑鸝在黑暗中安窩；

winged blackbird nests in the dark;

透過我們修剪的枝椏，星光

where we pruned branches, starlight

在大地的弧度上湧現。

floods in over the earth curvature.