在“百里店” 那些牛仔在一个灰如

At 100 Mile House the cowboys ride in rolling

石头的早晨骑马进来装腔作势地

stagey cigarettes with one hand reining

转动雪茄一只手勒住半驯化的反叛的野马

half-tame bronco rebels on a morning grey as stone

——很像骑着有威士忌酒颜色似的

— so much like riding dangerous women

　　眼睛的危险女人——

          with whiskey coloured eyes —

就是那类曾经与她们的恋人一起跌死

such women as once fell dead with their lovers

头中有火大腿上有滑不唧溜的泡沫的女人

with fire in their heads and slippery froth on thighs

——也许是俄勒冈女人或卡里尔女人或

— Beaver or Carrier women maybe or

　越过这个峡谷尽头远在那两个小山脉的

          Blackfoot squaws far past the edge of this valley

另一面来自那边那个被太阳毒晒的平原的

on the other side of those two toy mountain ranges

　黑脚族印第安女人

          from the sunfierce plains beyond

但是只有马

But only horses

　　　　　等在马厩里

                  waiting in stables

拴在小旅馆

hitched at taverns

　　　　　站在黎明中

                  standing at dawn

在城镇外吃草身旁到处是

pastured outside the town with

吉普车和福特牌车和雪佛莱牌车和

jeeps and fords and chevys and

繁忙的低声嘟哝的卡车它们煞有介事地

busy muttering stake trucks rushing

奔驰在人类设计的道路上

importantly over roads of man’s devising

在大农场主和城里望族和商人

over the safe known roads of the ranchers

那些以安全闻名的道路上

families and merchants of the town

　　　　　在高草原上

                  On the high prairie

只有马和骑手

are only horse and rider

　　　　　干草中的风

                  wind in dry grass

在小山丘下的寂静中囊橐而行

clopping in silence under the toy mountains

有时候拉下

dropping sometimes and

　　　　　金橙般的粪便

                  lost in the dry grass

　　　　　掉落在干草中

                  golden oranges of dung

只有马

Only horses

　　　没有秒表的回忆或宫廷祖先

         no stopwatch memories or palace ancestors

也没有蹇驴在尼罗河谷拖运赤裸的石头

not Kiangs hauling undressed stone in the Nile Valley

和发埃及人那种顽固的脾气或

and having stubborn Egyptian tantrums or

野驴穿行于希瑟亚细亚以及

Onagers racing thru Hither Asia and

最后的白氏斑马在非洲的高原上尖叫

the last Quagga screaming in African highlands

　　　　　　失去这些

         lost relatives of these

　　　　　　蹄声如雷的亲戚

         whose hooves were thunder

马的鬼魂在风中猛烈穿行

the ghosts of horses battering thru the wind

它们的名字是风的惯用语

whose names were the wind’s common usage

它们的生命是太阳在

whose life was the sun’s

　　　　　　寒冷的正午抵达这里

         arriving here at chilly noon

　　　　　　在尘土散发的汽油味中

         in the gasoline smell of the

　　　　　　在这家食品杂货店等待

         dust and waiting 15 minutes

　　　　　　十五分钟

         at the grocer’s