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