The desert tastesyellow on my tongue

沙漠的味道在我的舌头是黄的

and bitter like herbs in a narrow gorge

并且苦涩就象野草生长在深深的峡谷

where water waits under the rocks

水在岩石底下等待

for the next rain in five years

五年后的下一场雨

and where fish suffocate

出生于山涧的鱼儿

which were born in the mountain streams

在这里窒息

but the frogs play their unending pan-flutes

当月亮升上黑色的山岭时

as soon as the moon rises over the blackmountains.

蛙群就无休无止地吹笛。

That then is the night: a dark blue ocean

这就是夜晚：一个暗蓝的大洋

filled with sounds of shifting sands:

充满流沙移动的声音：

Cricket chirping floats on the air

蟋蟀的啁啾在空中漂浮

like a hot breath, a song turned to ashes,

就像一阵热气，就像一首化成灰的歌，

vibrating between the white teeth

在跳羚头骨雪白的齿牙间

of springbok skulls, a sigh of the wind.

振荡，一声风的叹息。

Here all the roads lead to nowhere inparticular,

从这里条条道路没有通向什么特定的地方，

they end in a sandy ford of soundless tracks

它们穿过脱水的梦的旋涡

through the whirlpool of dessicated dreams.

隐没在一片足迹无声的沙滩。

Somewhere under the Southern Cross

在南十字星下的某地

you lie on your back and hear

你仰身躺倒倾听着

the desert owl hoot its loneliness

沙漠的猫头鹰在孤独中嚣鸣

across the curve of the canyon.

飞跃山谷的曲线。