我总是恍惚间梦见

And I couldn’t escape the waking dream

老伊姆村

of infected fleas

裁缝家的壁炉旁

in the warp and weft of soggy cloth

被感染的跳蚤

by the tailor’s hearth

藏在潮湿的布料织线里

in ye olde Eyam.

而我也无法忘记

Then couldn’t un-see

那块歪斜的边界石头，

the Boundary Stone,

六个黑色洞孔

that cock-eyed  with its six dark

溢满着用来清洗

thimbles brimming with vinegar wine

受污染硬币的酒醋。

purging the plagued coins.

伊莫特与罗兰德

Which brought to mind the sorry story

我脑海里浮现着的

of Emmott Syddall and Rowland Torre,

一对命运多舛的情人

star-crossed lovers on either side

分离在隔离区两边

of the quarantine line

无言的情话跨越河流

whose wordless courtship spanned the river

直到她再也没有出现。

till she came no longer.

再一次睡过去，

But slept again,

我又梦见

and dreamt this time

被流放的药叉

of the exiled yaksha sending word

委托行云捎信

to his lost wife on a passing cloud,

致他失落的妻子，

a cloud that followed an earthly map

行云飞过大地

of camel trails and cattle tracks,

沿着牛和骆驼的踪迹

streams like necklaces,

飞过项链般的溪流，

fan-tailed peacocks, painted elephants,

扇状尾巴的孔雀，涂了色彩的大象，

embroidered bedspreads

草原和树丛绣织的地被，

of meadows and hedges,

雪峰，竹林，

bamboo forests and snow-hatted peaks,

瀑布和溪流，

waterfalls, creeks,

飞鹤宽大的翅膀在天空书写

the hieroglyphs of wide-winged cranes

还有雨后闪亮的莲花，

and the glistening lotus flower after rain,

空气，

the air，

清澈令人陶醉，稀奇，

hypnotically see-through, rare,

沉重的旅程，有时候

the journey a ponderous one at times, long and slow

必须慢慢久久地行走

but necessarily so.