After Jim Steinmeyer’s book “Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear”

年复一年他们在追猎，

叛逃的钟表学徒，

Over the years they hunted,

改换门庭的

the wayward apprentice watchmakers,

不肖之子，细察

the disappointing sons who transformed

门枢和齿轮的圆弧，

their surnames, hunted over acres

脚鸡眼和私藏的威士忌，

of hinges, cogs, calluses, hidden whiskey,

检视野猫的胡须

mustaches a breath from feral,

倾泄大海一般的财富

poured an ocean of fortune

把钢和铜编织在一起，

into fabrications of brass and iron,

用一个又一个季节

spent entire seasons strumming

拔弄无穷无尽的琴弦

massive harps of wire into perfect

让它们精妙协调一同消隐，

calibrations of invisibility,

向变形镜中的神灵祈祷，

prayed to the gods of adjustable mirrors,

诅咒忽明忽暗的煤气灯，

cursed the gods of temperamental gaslights,

打断模仿者和小偷的腿，

broke the legs of imitators and thieves,

在彼此的口袋上挖洞，

chewed holes in each other’s pockets,

操纵噩梦一般巨大的银环，

harnessed nightmares of giant silver hoops

无数次越过死人的尸身，

making endless passes over the bodies

高举千百只被献祭兔子的纪念碑，

of the dead, hoisted high a cenotaph

小心地把几里长的细丝

for hundreds of sacrificed rabbits,

吹进它们肺的迷宫，

breathed miles of delicate thread

只是为了让一个女人飘浮

into the lost labyrinths of their lungs,

让一个女人飘浮

all to make a woman float

他们之中从来没有人想过，

to make a woman float

征求一下她的意见。

and none of them ever thought

of simply asking her.