Old friend now there is no one alive

记得你年轻时模样的老朋友

who remembers when you were young

如今没有一个活着

it was high summer when I first saw you

我初次见到你是在盛夏

in the blaze of day most of my life ago

我大半生之前的白昼强光里

with the dry grass whispering in your shade

枯草正在你的树荫下窃窃私语

and already you had lived through wars

而你已经活过了战争

and echoes of wars around your silence

和围绕着你的沉寂的战争回响

through days of parting and seasons of absence

活过了离别的日子和缺席的季节

with the house emptying as the years went their way

年岁自行其道而房屋空空

until it was home to bats and swallows

最终成了蝙蝠和燕子的家

and still when spring climbed toward summer

你再次张开了蜷曲着沉睡的

you opened once more the curled sleeping fingers

新生树叶的手指，仿佛什么都没发生

of newborn leaves as though nothing had happened

你和季节说着同一种语言

you and the seasons spoke the same language

所有这些年我一直透过你的枝叶

and all these years I have looked through your limbs

看下面的河水和屋顶和夜晚

to the river below and the roofs and the night

你就是我看世界的方式

and you were the way I saw the world