2 FAULT LINES
2 斷層線
He pours water into a cup: at room temperature,
他向茶杯中倒水：室溫下，
the cup is white, but, after he microwaves it,
杯子呈白色，可是，在微波爐加熱後，
and before steeping a tea bag with mint leaves,
在浸入薄荷葉茶包前，
he notices outlines of shards have formed
他注意到水面上的杯壁露出
above the water. As the cup cools, the lines
細微的裂紋。當茶杯漸涼，裂紋
disappear: now he glimpses fault lines
消失了：此刻他瞥見自己
inside himself and feels a Siberian tiger
身體裏的斷層線並感受到一隻西伯利亞虎
pace along the bars of a cell—black, orange,
在獸籠的鐵條後徘徊——黑，橘，
white; black, orange, white—and feels how
白；黑，橘，白——
the repeating chord sends waves through him.
一個和絃反復向他激盪。
His eyes glisten, and he tries to dispel the crests,
他雙目炯然，試圖壓抑那湧動，
but what have I done, what can I do throbs
但「我做錯了什麽」「我怎麽辦」
in his arteries and veins. Today he will
在他的動脈和靜脈中抽動。今天他將
handle plutonium at the lab and won’t
在實驗室處理鈽而避免思考
consider beryllium casings. He situates the past
它外層的鈹包殻。他將過往浸入
in the slight aroma of mint rising in the air.
綿綿的薄荷香彌散於空氣。
Sometimes he feels like an astronaut suspended
有時他感覺自己像太空人漂浮
above Earth twisting on an umbilical cord;
在地球之外扭纏在一根臍帶上；
sometimes he’s in the crosshairs of a scope,
有時他被瞄準鏡上的十字星圈住，
and tiger stripes flow in waves cross his body.
老虎的條紋如潮水在他體內沖刷。
3 GLIMMER TRAIN
3 微光列車
Red-winged blackbirds in the cattail pond—
紅翅黑鸝棲於香蒲之地——
today I kicked an elk hoof off the path,
今天我從路中間踢開一隻馬鹿的蹄子，
read that armadillo eaters can catch
讀到吃犰狳的人可能染上
leprosy, but who eats armadillo and eats
麻風病，但什麽人吃犰狳
it rare? Last night you wrote that, walking
還不煮熟呢？昨夜你寫下，走在
to the stables, you glimpsed horses at twilight
去馬廄的路上，你瞥見馬兒在微明的
in a field. We walk barefoot up a ridge
田間。我們赤腳踏上山脊
and roll down a dune; sip raki, savor
從坡地上滾下來；在拱廊裏喝茴香酒，
shish kebab and yogurt in an arcade.
品嘗土耳其烤肉和酸奶。
Once we pored over divination lines incised
我們曾一起研究刻在龜殻上的
into tortoise shells, and once we stepped
線條的凶吉，一起穿過
through the keyhole entry into a garden
鎖眼形的門走入
with pools of glimmering water. In the gaps
池水泛光的花園。在我詞語的
between my words, peonies rise through hoops
空隙間，牡丹花從臥室外的
behind our bedroom—peonies are indeed
環形藤架中盛放——的確有牡丹
rising through hoops behind our bedroom—
從臥室外的環形藤架中盛放——
you comb your hair at the sink as they unfold.
你在水槽邊梳頭當花瓣片片展開。
4 ORCHID HOUR
4 蘭花之時
Orchid leaves are dark against the brighter glass;
蘭葉幽暗映襯在明亮的玻璃窗前；
two translucent blooms expand at the tip
兩朵剔透之花膨脹
of a segmented stalk, and, through the window,
在一枝花莖的頂端，隔窗望去，
an orange hue limns the Jemez Mountains.
橙色柔輝烘托著傑梅茲山脈。
At the lab a technician prepares a response
實驗室裏一位實驗員在準備應答
to a hypothetical anthrax attack, and what
可能發生的炭疽病毒襲擊，以下為
is imagined can be: lionfish proliferate
合理想像：獅子魚在加勒比海域
in the Caribbean, traces of uranium appear
繁殖擴散，含水層發現了
in an aquifer, and the beads of an abacus
鈾元素，算盤上的算珠
register a moment in time: the cost of cabbage,
凝結在某一時刻：捲心菜的價格，
catfish crammed in a bubbling tank—and words
擠滿鯰魚的冒泡水池——還有字典裏
in the dictionary are spores: xeriscape, fugu,
孢子般的詞語：省水花園，河豚，
cloister, equanimity. In the orchid hour,
與世隔絶，泰然。在蘭花之時，
you believe you know where you are, looking
你無比確信自己身在何處，從窗口
before and through a window, but a pang lodges—
眺望窗外，一陣錐心之痛——
out of all the possible worlds, this, this.
在塵世一切的發生之中，此刻，此刻。
5 THE CURTAIN
5 窗簾
Inside each galaxy is a black hole—
每一個星系的中心都有一個黑洞——
we will never see your birth mother’s face—
你生母的面孔永遠缺席——
our solar system has eight, not nine, planets—
我們的太陽系有八（非九）大行星——
we will never know the place of your birth—
你的出生地永遠未知——
who anticipated five dwarf planets
誰曾預料太陽系
in our solar system
有五顆矮行星
or that ice lodged on one of Jupiter’s moons?
而木星的一顆衛星被冰封鎖？
When three caretakers brought three babies
三個護士抱著三個嬰孩
into the room, your mother leapt out of her chair,
走進房間，你的母親從椅子上躍起，
knowing at a glance your face.
一眼認出你的臉。
We do not want anyone to be like the rings of Saturn,
但願無人像土星環
glinting in orbit,
在軌道上發光
or inhabiting the gaps between rings;
或處於環間空隙；
we do not want anyone to be like Uranus.
但願無人像天王星。
On a whiteboard, you draw a heart, an infinity sign,
你在白板上畫一顆心，一個無限符號，
star, and attune to a gyroscope’s tilt.
恆星，對應陀螺儀的角度。
At night I’ve pulled the curtain
我在夜裏拉上窗簾
and stopped at the point
常常留一個縫隙
where you twirled and transfixed—
供你暈眩，出神——
but tonight I pull the curtain to the end:
但今晚我把窗簾拉到底：
inside our planet is a molten core.
我們的行星之核岩漿湧動。
7 COMET HYAKUTAKE
7 百武慧星
Comet Hyakutake’s tail stretches for 360 million miles—
百武慧星拖著3.6億英里的彗尾——
in 1996, we saw Hyakutake through binoculars—
那是1996年，我們通過望遠鏡觀看它——
the ion tail contains the time we saw bats emerge out of a cavern at dusk—
在它離子尾藴含的時間裏我們看到蝙蝠飛出黃昏的洞穴——
in the cavern, we first heard stalactites dripping—
在那岩洞，我們第一次聽到鐘乳石滴水的聲音——
first silence, then reverberating sound—
寂靜，迴盪——
our touch reverberates and makes a blossoming track—
我們的碰觸迴盪，開出行跡的花——
a comet’s nucleus emits X-rays and leaves tracks—
彗核釋放X射線亦留下行跡——
two thousand miles away, you box up books and, in two days, will step
兩千英里外，你把書籍裝箱，再過兩天，你將走過機場安檢看不見的射線——
through the invisible rays of an airport scanner—
我們在看不見的書裏用看不見的墨水寫下看不見的記錄——
we write on invisible pages in an invisible book with invisible ink—
大自然的書我們翻了幾頁——
in nature’s book, we read a few pages—
我們閲讀果園上空的離子軌跡——
in the sky, we read the ion tracks from the orchard—
蘋果花在果園綻放，我們也在那裏綻放——
the apple orchard where blossoms unfold, where we unfold—
含苞，一個孩子寫道，「謎語活了」——
budding, the child who writes, “the puzzle comes to life”—
得意，迷惘，驚詫，沮喪，自信，關愛：分鐘匯集成小時——
elated, puzzled, shocked, dismayed, confident, loving: minutes to
an hour—
一分鐘，光從針孔相機的孔洞穿過——
a minute, a pinhole lens through which light passes—
百武慧星再次經過地球將在一萬年以後——
Comet Hyakutake will not pass Earth for another 100,000 years—
不要緊，此地有灼光——
no matter, ardor is here—
記錄碎片的人相信，碎片即完整——
and to the writer of fragments, each fragment is a whole—