From narrow provinces
我们从偏远的省区出发
of fish and bread and tea,
那里出产鱼，面包和茶
home of the long tides
漫长的潮汐之家，
where the bay leaves the sea
那里的海湾，离开大海
twice a day and takes
每天两次，携着
the herrings long rides,
鲱鱼，长途跋涉，
where if the river
那里的河流
enters or retreats
进驻或退却
in a wall of brown foam
呈现棕色的泡沫之墙
depends on if it meets
取决于，它是否
the bay coming in,
遇见海湾刚刚返回
the bay not at home;
或者海湾刚刚离开；
where, silted red,
那里的红色，污积着
sometimes the sun sets
有时，太阳落下
facing a red sea,
面向红色的海洋，
and others, veins the flats'
有时，低地上的紫色
lavender, rich mud
经络一般，燃烧的支流里
in burning rivulets;
浓稠的泥浆，翻滚着；
on red, gravelly roads,
穿过红色的碎石路，
down rows of sugar maples,
沿着成排的糖枫，
past clapboard farmhouses
经过木板农舍
and neat, clapboard churches,
整洁的，木板教堂
bleached, ridged as clamshells,
它漂白的棱纹，一如蛤壳，
past twin silver birches,
我们又经过孪生的银色白桦，
through late afternoon
整个傍晚
a bus journeys west,
我们的汽车向着西方，
the windshield flashing pink,
车窗闪耀的粉色
pink glancing off of metal,
从金属上弹回，
brushing the dented flank
摩挲凹陷的车身
of blue, beat-up enamel;
蓝色的瓷釉，久经风霜；
down hollows, up rises,
下坡，再向上爬行，
and waits, patient, while
耐心地等待，终于看到
a lone traveller gives
一个孤独的旅行者
kisses and embraces
拥抱，吻别
to seven relatives
他的七位亲人
and a collie supervises.
一只牧羊犬，在一旁注视着。
Goodbye to the elms,
再见了，榆树，
to the farm, to the dog.
再见了，农场，还有狗。
The bus starts. The light
汽车启动。更加丰富的
grows richer; the fog,
暮光。薄雾
shifting, salty, thin,
移动着，带着咸味
comes closing in.
四处侵入。
Its cold, round crystals
它冰冷，圆形的晶体
form and slide and settle
生成，又滑落到
in the white hens' feathers,
一只白色母鸡的羽翼，
in gray glazed cabbages,
灰色光滑的卷心菜，
on the cabbage roses
落在百叶蔷薇，羽扇豆上
and lupins like apostles;
如十二使徒那样；
the sweet peas cling
甜豆偎依着
to their wet white string
潮湿的白色豆荚
on the whitewashed fences;
紧贴着发白的篱笆；
bumblebees creep
一片毛地黄里
inside the foxgloves,
大黄蜂，悄悄爬行，
and evening commences.
黄昏，正在君临天下。
One stop at Bass River.
巴斯河那站需要停靠。
Then the Economies
之后是名为经济体的河流 --
Lower, Middle, Upper;
下游，中段，源头；
Five Islands, Five Houses,
被称为五岛，五户的地方，
where a woman shakes a tablecloth
一个女人抖开桌布
out after supper.
在晚餐之后。
A pale flickering. Gone.
苍白的灯火扑闪，消亡。
The Tantramar marshes
这是坦特拉姆的沼泽
and the smell of salt hay.
我们闻到咸味的干草之香。
An iron bridge trembles
一座铁桥在哆嗦
and a loose plank rattles
一块松动的木板在咯咯作响
but doesn't give way.
但是还没有坍塌。
On the left, a red light
左侧，红色的灯火
swims through the dark:
正在横渡黑夜：
a ship's port lantern.
那是一条船的舷灯。
Two rubber boots show,
出现一双橡皮靴子
illuminated, solemn.
被灯光照亮，神色凝重。
A dog gives one bark.
传来狗的一声叫唤。
A woman climbs in
一个老妇人上车了
with two market bags,
两个购物袋搭在肩膀，
brisk, freckled, elderly.
轻快的步伐，满脸的雀斑。
"A grand night. Yes, sir,
"多好的晚上。是的，先生
all the way to Boston."
一直坐到波士顿。"
She regards us amicably.
她朝我们友好地招呼着。
Moonlight as we enter
现在，月亮莅降
the New Brunswick woods,
我们进入新布纶斯维克的树林，
hairy, scratchy, splintery;
毛绒绒的，粗糙的易碎品；
moonlight and mist
那月色，那薄雾
caught in them like lamb's wool
是羊羔的毛发
on bushes in a pasture.
粘在草场的灌木上。
The passengers lie back.
乘客们已经躺下。
Snores. Some long sighs.
鼾声响起，还有几声长叹。
A dreamy divagation
梦中的我们，于今夜
begins in the night,
误入歧途，
a gentle, auditory,
温和的幻觉
slow hallucination. . . .
穿入耳际，缓缓流淌......
In the creakings and noises,
吱吱呀呀的嘈杂中，
an old conversation
往事如烟
--not concerning us,
-- 与我们无关，
but recognizable, somewhere,
但依稀可辨，
back in the bus:
从汽车后座，某处：
Grandparents' voices
传来老祖父母们的声音
uninterruptedly
连绵不断的
talking, in Eternity:
谈话，永在：
names being mentioned,
提到了一些名字，
things cleared up finally;
一些事件，水落石出。
what he said, what she said,
他的话，她的话，
who got pensioned;
某人拿到了养老金；
deaths, deaths and sicknesses;
生老病死，生老病死；
the year he remarried;
他重婚那会；
the year (something) happened.
出事的那年。
She died in childbirth.
她死于难产。
That was the son lost
这就是那失踪的儿子
when the schooner foundered.
死于帆船沉没。
He took to drink. Yes.
他酗酒，是的。
She went to the bad.
她更加悲惨不幸。
When Amos began to pray
当阿默斯拿着喷剂
even in the store and
对准商店里的人群
finally the family had
家人，不得不
to put him away.
把他关押。
"Yes . . ." that peculiar
"是的......"这一声表示
affirmative. "Yes . . ."
特别的确认。"是的......"
A sharp, indrawn breath,
突然，有人倒吸一口冷气
half groan, half acceptance,
带着哭腔，把命运接受，
that means "Life's like that.
意味着"生活就是这样
We know it (also death)."
我们早就知道了（包括死亡）。"
Talking the way they talked
以他们的方式，絮叨着
in the old featherbed,
躺在陈旧的羽绒垫子上，
peacefully, on and on,
心平气和地，说吧说吧，
dim lamplight in the hall,
就着过道里昏暗的灯光，
down in the kitchen, the dog
在餐室，一条狗
tucked in her shawl.
在她的披肩里卷缩着。
Now, it's all right now
现在，好了好了
even to fall asleep
该进入梦乡
just as on all those nights.
就如平常每晚。
--Suddenly the bus driver
-- 突然，我们的司机
stops with a jolt,
踩了一个急刹，
turns off his lights.
他随手关掉灯光。
A moose has come out of
一只麋鹿，刚刚跑出
the impenetrable wood
密不透风的树林
and stands there, looms, rather,
在我们前方，隐隐约约，
in the middle of the road.
就在马路中央。
It approaches; it sniffs at
它在靠近，用鼻子
the bus's hot hood.
嗅着滚热的汽车引擎。
Towering, antlerless,
以君临之势，它没有鹿角，
high as a church,
如一座教堂，高高在上，
homely as a house
如一幢房子，朴素无华
(or, safe as houses).
（或者，房子一般让人安详。）
A man's voice assures us
一个男人，试图安慰我们
"Perfectly harmless. . . ."
"它绝对不会伤人......."
Some of the passengers
一些乘客
exclaim in whispers,
小孩那样
childishly, softly,
轻声地，交头接耳，
"Sure are big creatures."
"真是庞然大物。"
"It's awful plain."
"它其实很是普通。"
"Look! It's a she!"
"看啊，是一匹母鹿。"
Taking her time,
不慌不忙，
she looks the bus over,
麋鹿把我们观望，
grand, otherworldly.
它宏伟的眼神，来自彼岸他乡。
Why, why do we feel
为什么，为什么我们感到
(we all feel) this sweet
（我们都感到）一阵甜蜜
sensation of joy?
欣喜若狂？
"Curious creatures,"
"好奇的家伙，"
says our quiet driver,
司机说，颇为平静，
rolling his r's.
拖长了最后一个字母的发音。
"Look at that, would you."
"看，你们快看。"
Then he shifts gears.
突然，他减慢车速。
For a moment longer,
又过了一会儿，
by craning backward,
他将身子后倾，
the moose can be seen
以便我们都能看到，麋鹿
on the moonlit macadam;
站在碎石路上，月色盈盈；
then there's a dim
之后，灯光暗去
smell of moose, an acrid
我们闻到了麋鹿的气息
smell of gasoline.
淡淡的，以及浓烈的
汽油之味。