I 

一 

Altarwise by owl-light in the halfway house 

像暮光中的祭坛那样，在中途的房子[1]里 

The gentleman lay graveward with his furies; 

那位绅士和他的愤怒[2]一起，面向坟墓躺着； 

Abaddon in the hangnail cracked from Adam 

指甲肉刺中的亚巴顿[3]从亚当身上分裂， 

And, from his fork, a dog among the faries, 

然后，小精灵中间的一只狗[4] ──爱吃地图册 [5]， 

The atlas-eater with a jaw for news, 

伸着下巴探听消息[6]──从他的分叉 

Bit out the mandrake with to-morrow’s scream. 

咬出了带着明日尖叫的曼德拉草根[7]。 

Then, penny-eyed, that gentleman of wounds, 

接着，那位眼睛像铜钱，浑身创伤的绅士， 

Old cock from nowheres and the heaven’s egg, 

不知哪儿来的老公鸡和那骨头没有系纽扣， 

With bones unbuttoned to the half-way winds, 

迎着中途的风，一只脚站着 

Hatched from the windy salvage on one leg, 

从多风的[8]抢救中孵出来的天堂的鸡蛋， 

Scraped at my cradle in a walking word 

用一个行走的词语擦蹭我的摇篮， 

That night of time under the Christward shelter: 

在那朝向基督的掩蔽所之下的时间之夜： 

I am the long world’s gentleman, he said, 

我是这悠长世界的绅士，他说道， 

And share my bed with Capricorn and Cancer. 

与摩羯宫和巨蟹宫[9]共寝。 

II 

二 

Death is all metaphors, shape in one history; 

死亡全然是隐喻，某一历史中的形状； 

The child that sucketh long is shooting up, 

那长时间吸吮的孩子正迅速向上冲， 

The planet-ducted pelican of circles 

由行星输送的，循环轨道的塘鹅 

Weans on an artery the gender’s strip; 

让性别的长条断奶，改喂一条动脉[10]； 

Child of the short spark in a shapeless country 

在一个无形的国度，短暂火花的孩子 

Soon sets alight a long stick from the cradle; 

很快将摇篮里的一根长杆点亮； 

The horizontal cross-bones of Abaddon, 

亚巴顿水平交叉的骨头， 

You by the cavern over the black stairs, 

黑色梯级上方洞穴旁的你， 

Rung bone and blade, the verticals of Adam, 

作响的骨头与剑刃，亚当的垂直线， 

And, manned by midnight, Jacob to the stars. 

以及，由子夜提供人手，攀向星辰的天梯[11]。 

Hairs of your head, then said the hollow agent, 

你头上的毛发，那中空的媒介然后说， 

Are but the roots of the nettles and of feathers 

不过是荨麻和这些基础上方翎羽的 

Over these groundworks, thrusting through a pavement 

根茎，挤过一片铺好的路面， 

And hemlock-headed in the wood of weathers. 

在气候之林里顶着毒芹花冠。 

III 

三 

First there was the lamb on knocking knees 

首先有那只跪在外翻膝盖上的绵羊， 

And three dead seasons on a climbing grave 

还有在攀爬的坟墓上的三个死亡季节， 

That Adam’s wether in the flock of horns, 

被角群中亚当的羯羊， 

Butt of the tree-tailed worm that mounted Eve, 

爬上了夏娃的树尾巴蠕虫的顶撞， 

Horned down with skullfoot and the skull of toes 

在花园时期，在雷鸣般的，铺好的路面 

On thunderous pavements in the garden time; 

用骷髅脚和脚趾骷髅撞倒； 

Rip of the vaults, I took my marrow-ladle 

地下墓室的浪子，我从那满是皱纹的 

Out of the wrinkled undertaker’s van, 

殡葬人的小货车里取出了我的骨髓长杓， 

And Rip Van Winkle from a timeless cradle, 

而瑞普•凡•温克尔[12]从一个永恒的摇篮， 

Dipped me breast-deep in the descended bone; 

将我往下放，齐胸放进遗传的骨头里； 

The black ram, shuffling of the year, old winter, 

那未去势的黑色公羊，岁时的曳步，年老的冬天， 

Alone alive among his mutton fold, 

在他的羊肉圈栏里独自存活， 

We rung our weathering changes on the ladder, 

我们在楼梯上敲响我们日晒雨淋的变化， 

Said the antipodes, and twice spring chimed. 

对跖地区[13]说道，春天两次发出了乐声。 

IV 

四 

What is the metre of the dictionary? 

字典的格律是什么？ 

The size of genesis? the short spark’s gender? 

起源的大小呢？短暂火花的性别呢？ 

Shade without shape? the shape of Pharaoh’s echo? 

没有形状的阴影呢？法老的回声的形状呢？ 

(My shape of age nagging the wounded whisper). 

（我的年龄的形状困扰着受伤的低语）。 

Which sixth of wind blew out the burning gentry? 

哪一股六分之一的风吹灭了那燃烧的乡绅？ 

(Questions are hunchbacks to the poker marrow). 

（这些问题是拨火棒[14]骨髓的一个个驼背）。 

What of a bamboo man among your acres? 

一个竹子男人在你的田亩之间怎么啦？ 

Corset the boneyards for a crooked boy? 

为了个狡诈的男孩将动物墓地罩上紧身内衣？ 

Button your bodice on a hump of splinters, 

在一大堆碎片上把你的紧身胸衣扣好， 

My camel’s eyes will needle through the shroud. 

我的骆驼的眼睛会像针一样穿过[15]那寿衣。 

Love’s reflection of the mushroom features, 

爱的蘑菇面容的映像， 

Stills snapped by night in the bread-sided field, 

在有面包侧面的田野中被夜猛然抓取的定格画面， 

Once close-up smiling in the wall of pictures, 

挂满照片的墙上以往的特写微笑， 

Arc-lamped thrown back upon the cutting flood. 

在弧形灯照耀下被扔回到锋利的洪水上。 

V 

五 

And from the windy West came two-gunned Gabriel, 

双枪加百列[16]从多风的西部来了， 

From Jesu’s sleeve trumped up the king of spots, 

从耶稣的袖子里打出了有斑点的王牌， 

The sheath-decked jacks, queen with a shuffled heart; 

饰有剑鞘的杰克，红心移动过的王后； 

Said the fake gentleman in suit of spades, 

那身穿黑桃套装的冒牌绅士说道， 

Black-tongued and tipsy from salvation’s bottle. 

救世的瓶子令他微醉，舌头黝黑。 

Rose my Byzantine Adam in the night. 

我的拜占庭亚当在夜里升起。 

For loss of blood I fell on Ishmael’s plain, 

由于失血，我倒在了以实玛利[17]的平原上， 

Under the milky mushrooms slew my hunger, 

在乳白色的蘑菇下残杀我的饥饿， 

A climbing sea of Asia had me down 

来自小亚细亚的一片攀爬的海洋将我推倒 

And Jonah’s Moby snatched me by the hair, 

而约拿[18]的莫比[19]抓住了我的头发， 

Cross-stroked salt Adam to the frozen angel 

将含盐的亚当向冰冻的天使横划过去， 

Pin-legged on pole-hills with a black medusa 

那天使的脚别在了地极的山丘上，荒凉的水域旁 

By waste seas where the white bear quoted Virgil 

有只黑色水螅水母[20]，白熊在那里引述维吉尔 

And sirens singing from our Lady’s sea-straw. 

还有塞壬[21]从圣母的海稻草歌唱。 

VI 

六 

Cartoon of slashes on the tide-traced crater, 

被潮水追踪的凹地上的裂口构成的草图， 

He in a book of water tallow-eyed 

他在一本水书中，满眼动物油脂， 

By lava’s light split through the oyster vowels 

借熔岩的光劈开那些牡蛎元音 

And burned sea-silence on a wick of words. 

并在一根词语灯芯上燃烧海的沉默。 

Pluck, cock, my sea eye, said medusa’s scripture, 

公鸡，摘掉我的海眼吧，水螅水母的经书说， 

Lop, love, my fork tongue, said the pin-hilled nettle; 

爱，剪去我的分叉舌头吧，被别针垒起的荨麻说； 

And love plucked out the stinging siren’s eye, 

然后爱摘出了那蜇人塞壬的眼睛， 

Old cock from nowheres lopped the minstrel tongue 

不知哪儿来的老公鸡剪掉了游吟诗人舌头 

Till tallow I blew from the wax’s tower 

直到我从蜡烛高塔上吹下动物油脂， 

The fats of midnight when the salt was singing; 

有盐在歌唱的子夜的脂肪； 

Adam, time’s joker, on a witch of cardboard 

亚当，时间的百搭牌[22]，在一位硬纸板女巫身上 

Spelt out the seven seas, an evil index, 

详细解释七大洋，邪恶的索引， 

The bagpipe-breasted ladies in the deadweed 

胸脯如风笛的女士们在死草中 

Blew out the blood gauze through the wound of manwax. 

透过那人蜡伤口吹出了血雾。 

VII 

七 

Now stamp the lord’s prayer on a grain of rice, 

现在将主祷文[23]盖印在一粒米上， 

The bible-leaved of all the written woods 

所有书写的树林中一片带有圣经叶子的 

Strip to this tree: a rocking alphabet, 

长条在这树上：一串摇摆的字母表， 

Genesis in the root, the scarecrow word, 

根里面的起源，唬鸟的词语， 

And one light’s language in the book of trees; 

以及树之书中一道光明的语言。 

Doom on deniers at the wind turned statement. 

面对那随风转动的宣言，否认者注定灭亡。 

Time’s tune my ladies with the teats of music, 

时间的曲调被我那些有音乐乳头的女士们， 

The scaled sea-sawers, fix in a naked sponge 

蜕了鳞片的海洋锯工，固定在一只赤裸的海绵里， 

Who sucks the bell-voiced Adam out of magic, 

它把声如洪钟的亚当吸吮得脱离了魔法， 

Time, milk, and magic, from the world beginning. 

时间，奶汁，和魔法，自世界初始。 

Time is the tune my ladies lend their heartbreak, 

时间是我的女士们增添心碎的曲调， 

From bald pavilions and the house of bread 

从秃头亭阁和那面包房子开始 

Time tracks the sound of shape on man and cloud, 

时间在人和云身上追踪形状的声音， 

On rose and icicle, the ringing handprint. 

在玫瑰和冰溜上追踪鸣响的手印。 

VIII 

八 

This was the crucifixion on the mountain, 

这是基督在山上受难的景象， 

Time’s nerve in vinegar, the gallow grave 

时间的神经在酸酒[24]里，那绞架坟墓， 

As tarred with blood as the bright thorns I wept; 

像我哀悼的鲜艳荆棘一样被血覆盖； 

The world’s my wound, God’s Mary in her grief, 

世界是我的伤口，上帝的玛利亚在悲痛中， 

Bent like three trees and bird-papped through her shift, 

像三株树[25]一样弯着腰，姿势转动如要求喂食的鸟， 

With pins for teardrops is the long wound’s woman. 

悠长伤口的女人带着泪珠的别针。 

This was the sky, Jack Christ, each minstrel angle 

这是天空，杰克•基督[26]，每一个游吟诗人角度 

Drove in the heaven-driven of the nails 

将那些被天堂驱动的钉子敲进去 

Till the three-colored rainbow from my nipples 

直至那三色[27]彩虹从我的奶头 

From pole to pole leapt round the snail-waked world. 

从地极到地极跃遍这被蜗牛唤醒的世界。 

I by the tree of thieves, all glory’s sawbones, 

我凭盗贼之树，一切荣誉的外科医生， 

Unsex the skeleton this mountain minute, 

在这个山岳时刻，去除那骷髅的性别， 

And by this blowclock witness of the sun 

并且凭这喷发时钟对太阳的见证 

Suffer the heaven’s children through my heartbeat. 

容许天堂的小孩子[28]通过我的心跳。 

IX 

九 

From the oracular archives and parchment, 

从这些神谕的案卷和这份羊皮纸文稿， 

Prophets and fibre kings in oil and letter, 

身穿油和字母的先知与纤维国王， 

The lamped calligrapher, the queen and splints, 

有灯照耀的书法家，上了夹板的女王， 

Buckle to lint and cloth their natron footsteps, 

他们的泡碱[29]脚步贴着纱布与毛料变形， 

Draw on the glove of prints, dead Cairo’s henna 

拉上印花布手套，没人再用的开罗散沫花染剂[30] 

Pour like a halo on the caps and serpents. 

像光环一样倒在冠冕和蛇[31]上面。 

This was the resurrection in the desert, 

这是沙漠中的复活景象， 

Death from a bandage, rants the mask of scholars 

绷带包扎的死亡，学者的面具嚷嚷 

Gold on such features, and the linen spirit 

这般容貌上的黄金，而那亚麻布灵魂 

Weds my long gentlemen to dusts and furies 

让我的悠长绅士与尘土和愤怒结合； 

With priest and pharaoh bed my gentle wound, 

将我的温柔伤口，沙里的世界 

World in the sand on the triangular landscape, 

和祭司，法老一起嵌在这三角地貌上， 

With stones of odyssey for ash and garland 

有奥德赛的石头可作梣木[32]与花冠， 

And rivers of the dead around my neck. 

还有死者的河流[33]环绕我的颈项。 

X 

十 

Let the tale’s sailor from a Christian voyage 

就让这故事的水手从一次基督教信仰旅程 

Atlaswise hold half-way off the dummy bay 

像地图册那样在我平衡的地球上，和那仿制的海湾， 

Time’s ship-racked gospel on the globe I balance: 

时间受船折磨的福音，保持中途的距离： 

So shall winged harbours through the rockbirds’ eyes 

这样有翼的海港便会透过岩鸟的眼睛 

Spot the blown word, and on the seas I image 

认出吹制的词语，而在海上我会想象 

December’s thorn screwed in a brow of holly. 

十二月的荆棘在一排崖顶的冬青枝里拧紧。 

Let the first Peter from a rainbow’s quayrail 

就让第一位彼得从一处彩虹的码头栏杆 

Ask the tall fish swept from the bible east, 

问一问那条高大的，被水流从圣经东部冲来的鱼[34]， 

What rhubarb man peeled in her foam-blue channel 

什么样的大黄茎人在她的蓝色泡沫海峡中蜕了皮， 

Has sown a flying garden round that sea-ghost? 

在那海洋鬼魂的周围种下了一座飞行的花园？ 

Green as beginning, let the garden diving 

像初始那样绿[35]，就让那潜水的花园 

Soar, with its two bark towers, to that Day 

飞升，带着它的两座树皮塔楼，直到 

When the worm builds with the gold straws of venom 

哪一天那蠕虫用有毒液的黄金稻草 

My nest of mercies in the rude, red tree.

在原始的红树中筑起了我的仁慈巢穴。