1
1
Peaches redden on branches; in the dark,
桃子在枝梢轉紅；黑暗中，
I drop the irrigation gate—each month
我放下灌溉渠的閘門——有個女人
a woman crosses Havana Bay and, looking
每月橫穿哈瓦那灣前來，凝視
at the open water, reclaims her mother—
開闊的水域，召喚她的母親——
I smell the bloodred strawberries
我聞到花園裏
in the garden; at a flaking green tank,
血紅的草莓；駐足綠漆剝落的水箱前
I listen: yellow light shines at a neighbor’s
我側耳聆聽：一束黃光投射在鄰居
octagonal window; Orion dims as the sky lightens—
八角形的窗上；天色漸明，獵戶座趨於黯淡——
what am I but a wandering speck
我只不過是一顆漫遊的塵埃
rambling, smudging, stumbling, writing—
徘徊著，髒污著，顛躓著，書寫著——
someone opens a car door and steals quarters—
有人打開車門偷取25美分硬幣——
across the valley, two lights flicker from houses;
峽谷對面，兩戶人家燈影綽綽；
standing before a sharp descent, I look
我站在一個陡坡上，諦視
at a waxing moon—the Big Bang’s
逐漸充盈的月亮——大爆炸
always present—I latch a green metal
一直在場——我閂住綠鐵門
gate near the empty stable and smell
走過空蕩蕩的馬廄，聞到你睡夢中翻身時
your neck as you turn in your sleep;
脖子的氣息；
daylight reaches the porch post columns;
日光已照亮露臺的廊柱；
I open a glass door and sit at a table,
我拉開玻璃門坐在桌邊，
where light pools onto the wood floor.
光在木地板上匯成一池。
2
2
A black butterfly opens its wings—
黑蝴蝶舉平雙翼——
sitting in a bus on a metal seat, I notice the steel above the driver has corroded,
坐在一輛巴士的金屬座位上，我發現司機頭頂的金屬板已經銹蝕，點點日光
and pinpricks of daylight stream through—
川流而過——
two destroyers moored offshore—
兩艘驅逐艦停泊近海——
on a scaffold, he uses a roller and paints the building marine blue—
他在腳手架上用油漆滾把大樓刷成大海的藍——
a mime in a silver top hat, silver jacket—hands and face, silvered—inches
默劇演員頭戴銀帽，身穿銀衣——銀色的手和臉——在餐館裏尺蠖般移動——
through a restaurant—
站在樹蔭裏擡頭凝望一棵佈滿瘤刺的吉貝木棉樹的枝葉——
standing in the shade looking up into the branches and leaves of a thorned ceiba
tree—
一個掃街人背井離鄉創立了連鎖餐館——
a street sweeper emigrates and founds a chain of restaurants—
兩個男人推著屠豬骨架從門口穿過——
two men push pig carcasses on a cart through the doorway—
歌手晃著沙槌隨音樂搖擺——
a singer shaking maracas sways to the music—
3
俄羅斯鼠尾草誘惑著空氣——
3
Russian sage scents the air—
壁爐架上燭火跳動
芬芳升起——
the aroma of flickering candles
on the fireplace mantel—
我竟然站在這山脊上注視天邊低垂的金星——
that I am even here standing on a ridge looking at Venus low in the sky—
一隻黑熊掀翻車庫裏的垃圾桶
吃掉了剩餘的
a black bear overturns a dumpster in the garage
墨西哥鷄肉捲——
and eats remnants
of a chicken enchilada—
士兵們牽著狗在機場大廳穿行——
soldiers move through the airport with dogs on leashes—
我在你胸脯上塗油——
I rub oil on your breasts—
在舊德里，敞口的筐子裝著番紅花，小豆蔻，
生薑，寶鼎香——
in Old Delhi, uncovered bins with saffron, cardamom,
ginger, turmeric—
一張告示提醒恐怖襲擊隨時發生——
a poster warns of an imminent terrorist attack—
我草草記下所想以便即使在黑暗中將之忘卻
亦可在天明時失而復得——
I jot things down so that when I lose them in the darkness
I may recover them quickly with the dawn—
舞者們戴著約魯巴面具登場了——
dancers emerge wearing Yoruba masks—
我嘗到你脖子上鹽的味道——
I taste the salt on your neck—
竟然全世界的河流都匯入大海——
that the rivers of the world flow into the seas—
竟然我還活著聽見迴旋的灑水器把水噴向草地——
that I am alive and hear rotating sprinklers jet water onto the grass—
竟然我們的身體哼唱著日復一日——
that we go through the day humming in our bodies—
俄羅斯鼠尾草從黑暗中顯形——
Russian sage emerges out of darkness—
4
八月的太陽，羅勒的結籽期——
4
一個默劇演員扮成建築工人
In August sunlight, basil plants go to seed—
a mime dressed as a construction worker
塗著金色的皮膚，戴金色的護目鏡，頭盔，
拿金色長柄錘，站在石磚馬路
with gold skin, gold goggles, helmet,
and sledge hammer, stands in the shady
蔭涼的一邊；當你把零錢
投進箱子，他微笑鞠躬——
side of a cobbled street; when you drop
some cash in the box, he smiles and bows—
一個女人送你一本詩集；
當你讀到「貧窮之地」
a woman gives you a book of poetry;
when you read la pobreza del lugar,
你面生慍色：如果思想閃耀火花
便沒有不毛之地；否則，撒哈拉沙漠的丘陵
you bristle: no place is impoverished
if the mind sparks; if not, the dunes
將綿亙不止；太陽落山，
涼爽的沙稜在星空下展開——
of a Sahara have no end; the sun sets,
and a cooling range is under the stars—
而思想結籽時，駱駝出沒於沙丘
載你去往一片綠洲，
when the mind seeds, a camel emerges
out of a dune and you ride it to an oasis,
你將在那裏飲用死藤水：一夜未眠過後，
守夜禮的引領者戴上美洲豹的面具
where you imbibe ayahuasca: up all night,
when the man leading the vigil puts on
變身為美洲豹，
你舉起雙手，它們閃耀蝴蝶的火花。
a jaguar mask and becomes a jaguar,
you raise your hands, and they spark butterflies.
5
歌手晃著沙槌隨音樂搖擺——
5
A singer shaking maracas sways to the music—
街邊，一個黑人推著掛架上一串串洋蔥懸擺的手推車唱誦著「賣洋蔥啦」——
in the street, a black man pushing a cart with strings of onions dangling from the
一個女孩露出銀色的臉和手，穿銀色的襯衫裙裾，手捧一束銀色的花——
frame sings, “Onions for sale”—
一輛1953年的紫色雪佛蘭擦得熠熠發光與一台天藍色龐帝克並排停靠——
a girl with silvered face and hands, blouse and skirt, holds a silver bouquet of
flowers—
院子裏，觀峰玉開花——
a purple 1953 Chevy with polished chrome parked alongside an azure Bonneville—
他母親的父親曾擁有一片甘蔗園但在他母親嫁給一個黑白混血掃街人之後剝奪了
她的財產繼承權——
in the yard, a flowering boojum tree—
坐在巴士烤箱中——
his mother’s father was the owner of a sugar plantation and disinherited his mother
after she married a mulatto street sweeper—
默劇演員身穿深海潛水衣，頭盔在手，一步步登上樓梯——
sitting in the oven of a bus—
黑蝴蝶斂翼——
a mime dressed as a deep-sea diver, helmet in hand, inches up the stairs—
6
樹幹上分佈密集的瘤刺——
a black butterfly closes its wings—
我想起鳴角鴞在木樁上歇息
被紫藤的茂葉蔭蔽——
6
落雪的院子闃寂無聲，
Clusters of conical thorns on the tree trunk—
森林大火的餘燼
I recall screech owls perched on a post
飄墜屋頂，冬季的星空
protected from sunlight by wisteria leaves,
在一天之內轉為夏日的朗照。
the hush in the courtyard during a snowfall,
我看見藤架間的眼型吊鈎上
cinders from a forest fire alighting on
竪直別著一根老鷹的撥風羽，
the roof, and how winter starlight shifted
紅色與橙色的九重葛
to summer sunshine within a single day.
從陶盆向上交纏探索
In the eyehook between shelves, I see
壓向天花板和玻璃門；
the upright primary wing feather of an eagle,
兩次我踩到鹸蝕的地板
the red and orange bougainvilleas,
腳上扎了刺。我感知到缺席的
entwined, rising from a pot pressing
在場與在場的缺席：
against the ceiling and against glass doors;
當五月的輕雪落在走道上
twice I stepped on lye-softened floorboards
旋即消融，當激浪翻湧
and caught splinters. I mark presence
席捲過廣場和林蔭大道。
in absence and absence in presence:
as a May snow landing on a walkway
dissolves as it lands, as surf rises
and sweeps across the plazas and boulevards.