There is a moment before a shape

是这样一个时刻，形状还未

hardens, a color sets.

固定，  颜料尚待凝结。

Before the fixative or heat of   kiln.

窑炉的凝固剂或高温还没启动。

The letter might still be taken

那封信仍有可能

from the mailbox.

从邮筒取回

The hand held back by the elbow,

手被臂膀停悬于空中

the word kept between the larynx pulse

词语困于喉头脉动之间

and the amplifying drum-skin of the room’s air.

还有鼓皮下不断膨胀的空气

The thorax of an ant is not as narrow.

它比蚂蚁的胸部还要狭窄。

The green coat on old copper weighs more.

也不如铜器上的绿锈厚重。

Yet something slips through it —

很多事物也因此消逝——

looks around,

环顾四周，

sets out in the new direction, for other lands.

新的方向出现，通向不同的领域。

Not into exile, not into hope. Simply changed.

不为放逐，不为希望。只是改变。

As a sandy track-rut changes when called a Silk Road:

正如沙中车轮轨迹改变时，丝绸之路便已形成

it cannot be after turned back from.

而当一切不可逆转，它便不复存在