红是你的颜色。

Red was your colour.

不是红，就是白。但是红

If not red, then white. But red

是你裹着自己身体的颜色。

Was what you wrapped around you.

血红。是血吗？

Blood-red. Was it blood?

它是温暖死者的红赭土？

Was it red-ochre, for warming the dead?

它是使宝贵的祖传遗骨，家人的尸骸

Haematite to make immortal

不朽的赤血石。

The precious heirloom bones, the family bones.

当你最后采用你的办法走了时

When you had your way finally

我们的房间是红色。一间审判室。

Our room was red. A judgement chamber.

盖子盖好的珍宝盒。血红的地毯印上了暗黑色纹路，

Shut casket for gems. The carpet of blood

像是凝结的血块。红宝石颜色的

Patterned with darkenings, congealments.

灯芯绒窗帘挂在那里，如同血的瀑布，

The curtains — ruby corduroy blood,

从天花板直泻到地板上。

Sheer blood-falls from ceiling to floor.

坐垫也是如此。同样，沿窗台

The cushions the same. The same

是胭脂红色。一间令人心悸的房间。

Raw carmine along the window-seat.

阿兹台克人的祭坛——圣殿。

A throbbing cell. Aztec altar — temple.

只有一张张白书架避开了血红。

Only the bookshelves escaped into whiteness.

窗户外边

And outside the window

单薄的皱而脆弱的罂粟花

Poppies thin and wrinkle-frail

如同血染了的皮肤；

As the skin on blood,

你父亲用来给你命名的撒尔维亚草，

Salvias, that your father named you after,

红得像伤口里涌出来的血；

Like blood lobbing from the gash,

还有红玫瑰，心脏的最后一滩血，

And roses, the heart’s last gouts,

动脉流出的灾难性的必死无疑的血。

Catastrophic, arterial, doomed.

你的天鹅绒长裙，血染的包扎布，

Your velvet long full skirt, a swathe of blood,

深红如勃艮第红葡萄酒。

A lavish burgandy.

你的嘴唇，一抹深红。

Your lips a dipped, deep crimson.

你陶醉在红色里。

You revelled in red.

我感到剧痛，像摸到刚包扎好正变硬的

I felt it raw — like crisp gauze edges

伤口上的纱布。我能触摸到

Of a stiffening wound. I could touch

纱布里开口的血管，隐现的痂斑。

The open vein in it, the crusted gleam.

你把所有的东西先打上白底，

Everything you painted you painted white

然后泼上玫瑰红，压住白色，

Then splashed it with roses, defeated it,

俯身于白色，滴下玫瑰红，

Leaned over it, dripping roses,

哭泣着流出玫瑰红，愈来愈多的

Weeping roses, and more roses,

玫瑰红，有时在玫瑰红之中画一只小蓝鸟。

Then sometimes, among them, a little blue bird.

蓝色对你来说比较好。蓝色

Blue was better for you. Blue was wings.

是翅膀。旧金山买来的

Kingfisher blue silks from San Francisco

翠鸟蓝绸衣包住你妊娠的身体。

Folded your pregnancy

在严肃的抚摸里。

In crucible caresses.

蓝色是你和蔼的灵魂－不是食尸鬼

Blue was your kindly spirit — not a ghoul

而是受震惊的考虑周全的护卫者。

But electrified, a guardian, thoughtful.

在红色坟墓里

In the pit of red

你躲开了骨科诊所的白色。

You hid from the bone-clinic whiteness.

但你失落的宝石是蓝色。

But the jewel you lost was blue.