And I couldn’t escape the waking dream

我总是恍惚间梦见

of infected fleas

老伊姆村

in the warp and weft of soggy cloth

裁缝家的壁炉旁

by the tailor’s hearth

被感染的跳蚤

in ye olde Eyam.

藏在潮湿的布料织线里

Then couldn’t un-see

而我也无法忘记

the Boundary Stone,

那块歪斜的边界石头，

that cock-eyed  with its six dark

六个黑色洞孔

thimbles brimming with vinegar wine

溢满着用来清洗

purging the plagued coins.

受污染硬币的酒醋。

Which brought to mind the sorry story

伊莫特与罗兰德

of Emmott Syddall and Rowland Torre,

我脑海里浮现着的

star-crossed lovers on either side

一对命运多舛的情人

of the quarantine line

分离在隔离区两边

whose wordless courtship spanned the river

无言的情话跨越河流

till she came no longer.

直到她再也没有出现。

But slept again,

再一次睡过去，

and dreamt this time

我又梦见

of the exiled yaksha sending word

被流放的药叉

to his lost wife on a passing cloud,

委托行云捎信

a cloud that followed an earthly map

致他失落的妻子，

of camel trails and cattle tracks,

行云飞过大地

streams like necklaces,

沿着牛和骆驼的踪迹

fan-tailed peacocks, painted elephants,

飞过项链般的溪流，

embroidered bedspreads

扇状尾巴的孔雀，涂了色彩的大象，

of meadows and hedges,

草原和树丛绣织的地被，

bamboo forests and snow-hatted peaks,

雪峰，竹林，

waterfalls, creeks,

瀑布和溪流，

the hieroglyphs of wide-winged cranes

飞鹤宽大的翅膀在天空书写

and the glistening lotus flower after rain,

还有雨后闪亮的莲花，

the air，

空气，

hypnotically see-through, rare,

清澈令人陶醉，稀奇，

the journey a ponderous one at times, long and slow

沉重的旅程，有时候

but necessarily so.

必须慢慢久久地行走