Old friend now there is no one alive

老伙计啊世间再没有人

who remembers when you were young

记得你年轻的时候了

it was high summer when I first saw you

第一次我看见你时正值盛夏

in the blaze of day most of my life ago

我此生大多时候烈日炎炎

with the dry grass whispering in your shade

干草在你的阴凉里低语

and already you had lived through wars

你已历经多次战争

and echoes of wars around your silence

你的沉默为战争的回响包围

through days of parting and seasons of absence

穿过离别的日子和不在场的季节

with the house emptying as the years went their way

岁月流转里房子空置着

until it was home to bats and swallows

沦为蝙蝠和燕子的家

and still when spring climbed toward summer

当春天依然爬向夏天之时

you opened once more the curled sleeping fingers

你再次展开新叶那蜷缩的

of newborn leaves as though nothing had happened

酣睡的手指仿佛什么也没发生

you and the seasons spoke the same language

你和季节说着同样的语言

and all these years I have looked through your limbs

这些年我察看你的枝杈

to the river below and the roofs and the night

它们探向河面房顶以及夜晚

and you were the way I saw the world

你曾是我观察世界的方式