Manyare making love. Up above, the angels

许多人正在做爱。上方，天使们

inthe unshaken ether and crystal of human longing

在人类企望的无可撼动的苍穹和水晶之中

arebraiding one another’s hair, which is strawberry blond

编织着彼此的发辫，浅草莓色的头发

andthe texture of cold rivers. They glance

有着寒冷之河的纹理。他们不时地

downfrom time to time at the awkward ecstasy —

瞥见下面那令人尴尬的狂喜——

itmust look to them like featherless birds

在他们看来，那一定如同没长羽毛的鸟

splashingin the spring puddle of a bed —

在床上的泉眼里嬉水——

andthen one woman, she is about to come,

一个女人，她即将走来，

peelsback the man’s shut eyelids and says,

拨开男人紧闭的眼皮说，

lookat me, and he does. Or is it the man

看着我，他照做了。或者正是这男人

tuggingthe curtain rope in that dark theater?

在漆黑的剧院里拽着幕布的绳子？

Anyway,they do, they look at each other;

无论如何，他们这样做了，他们看着彼此；

twobeings with evolved eyes, rapacious,

两个生灵拥有进化的眼睛，贪婪，

startled,connected at the belly in an unbelievably sweet

惊恐，在难以置信地甜美的油滑胶水中

lubriciousglue, stare at each other,

与肚皮相连，他们凝视着彼此，

andthe angels are desolate. They hate it. They shudder pathetically

而天使们感到荒凉。他们憎厌这件事。他们伤感得发抖

likelithographs of Victorian beggars

就像石版画里维多利亚时期的乞丐们

withperfect features and alabaster skin hawking rags

那些有着完美面容和石膏般皮肤的乞丐，在小说中

inthe lewd alleys of the novel.

下流的巷子里兜售旧布。

Allof creation is offended by this distress.

一切生物都被这苦恼所侵扰。

Itis like the keening sound the moon makes sometimes,

就如同月亮有时发出的热切之声，

rising.The lovers especially cannot bear it,

正在升起。情人们尤其无法承受这声音，

itfills them with unspeakable sadness, so that

它使他们充斥着无以言表的悲哀，因此

theyclose their eyes again and hold each other, each

他们再次合上眼睛并抱紧彼此，每个人

feelingthe mortal singularity of the body

都感到身体上致命的特异之处

theyhave enchanted out of death for an hour or so,

他们在死亡之外迷醉了大约一个小时，

andone day, running at sunset, the woman says to the man,

有一天，事情发生在日落时分，女人对男人说，

Iwoke up feeling so sad this morning because I realized

今早我带着伤感醒来，因为我意识到

thatyou could not, as much as I love you,

你无法爱得像我一样深，

dearheart, cure my loneliness,

亲爱的，治愈我的孤独，

wherewithshe touched his cheek to reassure him

她抚摸他的脸颊，使他确信

thatshe did not mean to hurt him with this truth,

她并不是故意用这个事实来伤害他，

andthe man is not hurt exactly,

而男人丝毫未受伤害，

heunderstands that life has limits, that people

他明白生命有限，人们

dieyoung, fail at love,

在年轻时死去，失败于爱情，

failof their ambition. He runs beside her, he thinks

也未完成他们的抱负。他在她身旁运动着，他想起

ofthe sadness they have gasped and crooned their way out of

那悲哀，他们曾在来时的路上急促地喘着气，

coming,clutching each other with old, invented

柔声哼着，他们带着优雅又笨拙的感激，用老套的

formsof grace and clumsy gratitude, ready

已发明的姿势牢牢抓住彼此，准备

tobe alone again, or dissatisfied, or merely

再一次变得孤单，或不满，或仅仅

companionablelike the couples on the summer beach

变得友善，就像夏季海滩上的情侣们

Readingmagazine articles about intimacy between the sexes

把杂志上关于两性关系的文章

tothemselves, and to each other,

读给他们自己听，读给彼此听，

andto the immense, illiterate, consoling angels.

读给那些庞大，无知，予人慰藉的天使们听。