The room is a big hollow.
屋子很空
Months and years burnished some grey bricks
年月磨白了一些灰砖
white, and some glimmering black.
也把一些磨得黑亮
Crumbs of clay quietly drop, time
碎屑静静落下，时间
Erects the solidity of the walls’ enclosure.
竖起四围墙壁的坚实
The empty room is filled with floating auras
空屋子里充满飘浮的气息
Sunlight emblazing the lattice window
阳光照亮窗棂
Children discard the play with the shadows
孩子们丢下与影子的游戏
Run out of room, to play on the plaza.
跑出屋子，到广场上游戏
Hopscotch, seek-and-hide, rubber-band skipping
跳房子，捉迷藏，跳皮筋
Grasses green then yellow, the sugar-figures blowing man
草绿了又黄，卖气球的女人
replaces the woman who sold balloons, colorful wheels of
换了吹糖人的老人，风车的彩轮
pinwheel turning on and on. Dandelions fly apart to the azure.
转个不停，蒲公英向着湛蓝飞散
The strobilus of the phoenix trees cracked, pollens draw
梧桐的果球破裂，在金色的空中
vanishing sound traces in the golden sky. Wind blowing
划出消匿的音痕。风从巷道吹来
through the lanes, sands rush into the eyes before the dusk.
沙子先于黄昏扑入眼睛
Boys and girls in adolescent back up, look at each other
少男少女挺直身躯，望着彼此
strange and familiar.
陌生又熟悉
Lanes disappeared in the plaza
巷道消失在广场
The plaza stretches out the roads
广场伸出道路
The young girl drops down the game and stands
放下游戏的少女
Outside the circle of square, looking around and far
站在广场的圆圈外张望
The sun is setting, evening glow stacked up
太阳落山，夕光在天上
an iridescent hallucination castle.
堆起幻彩的迷宫
Twilight in dense color waits with patience.
浓重的暮色袖手静候
Once he waited me with his bicycle outside the town
他曾推着自行车在城外等着
He carried me with my girl friend, I, sat on the crossbar
骑车带着我和女伴，我在前面
His sister was a doctor. I went to visit his home
他的姐姐是医生，我去了他家里
Only his mother there, I blushed, not knowing what to say.
只有他妈妈，我红了脸，没说什么
He held tickets for a movie, smudged machine oil still on the hands
他拿着电影票，手上的机油还没洗掉
I asked was that everyone had a ticket? He lowered his head.
我问他是每个人都有票吗？他低下头
To be loved in the youth is beautiful, isn’t it?
年轻时被人喜欢也挺美好，不是吗？
At that time, he is the one I must have liked
当时，我一定就是喜欢他
We have had good times, now we are getting old
我们也好过，现在我们老了
For months we would not have sex
几个月都不干一回事
But how he looked at that woman! His voice!
可他看那女人的样子，他的语气
How could it be completely different?
怎么能全都不一样了？
He is a nice man.
他是个好人
Black out now, it’s still early till he comes back from Mah-jongg
熄灯吧，他打麻将回来还早
Aunt Lee lies down in her silent night of twenty years.
丽姨在二十年寂静的黑夜中躺下
The wind puffs away human’s whisper, only night stays
风吹散人语，只留下夜
The plaza naked under the starlight
广场裸露在星光下
Tinkling, jingling, broken beads rolling down
叮咚、叮咚滚过一些碎珠
Black pupils of the dark lanes exchange no words
巷道的黑瞳不相交语
Roads gleamingly loom like the patterns of the palm
道路掌纹般若隐若现
The children in dreams stretch muscles and bones
睡梦中的孩子伸展筋骨
Will wake up, build rooms, and murmur to oneself.
将要醒来，建造房屋，自言自语。