谁能想到，它也会濒危甚至绝迹？

Who knew this too could become endangered or extinct?

他们给我一个小桶，于是我收集海玻璃和贝壳。

They gave me a little pail so I collected beach glass and shells.

谁能想到，海贝壳里的声响不是海洋——

Who knew the sound in a seashell wasn’t your own blood—

更不是你自己的血？那是贝壳的腔在呼吸，

No more than the ocean? It was the shell’s chambers breathing,

空气的嗓音：不是翻腾的碎浪，或你耳中的脉搏。

A voice of air: Not churning breakers, nor a pulse in your ear.

日头熔炉般的眩光下，混浊光滑的宝石

In the sun’s furnace glare, the cloudy smooth gemstones

暗暗内含火。和贝壳一样，是海滩的子嗣。

Couched an interior fire. Like shells, progeny of the beach.

那时候，谁会想到滑石粉能引起癌症？

Back then, who knew talcum powder could ignite cancer?

飞利浦镁乳的钴蓝。可乐的祖母绿。

Cobalt from Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia. Emerald from Coke.

野根乳油、沙漠之花、欧车前制剂——岁月

Wildroot Cream-Oil, Desert Flower, Serutan—the years

褪去了它们的暗闪。我曾有个朋友喜欢

Eroded their pale glitter. I had a friend once who loved

买装在塑料瓶里的水：自然

Buying the water that came in plastic bottles: Nature

为发明所征服。谁能想到，就是那些瓶子能够

Mastered by invention. Who knew those very bottles could

扼杀海洋？是它们的化学物质让他生病的吗？

Strangle the ocean? Did their chemicals make him sick?

趴在沙子上，我研究着眼前一寸处凹凸不平的

Prone on the sand, I studied an inch from my eye the jagged

透明颗粒，他们告诉我，这是熔融玻璃的气泡。

Clear granules they told me were seeds of molten glass.