我确实记得那黑暗，它如何蜿蜒

I do remember darkness, how it snaked

穿过白杨树，它们的灰色侧面

through the alders, their ashen flanks

在我们的远光灯下显出石头的颜色。

in our high-beams the color of stone.

洪水拍打汽车侧面的空洞的声音。

That hollow slap as floodwater hit

收音机开着吗？

the sides of the car. Was the radio on?

我曾经睡着了吗？

Had I been asleep?

有时，你必须用一生讲述一个故事

Sometimes you have to tell a story

才能说对它。

your entire life to get it right.

二十二岁，心中充满恐惧，我嫁给了你

Twenty-two and terrified, I had married you

但几乎不认识你。在过去的四十年里

but barely knew you. And for forty years

我一直讲错这个故事。在我的记忆中

I’ve told this story wrong. In my memory

你直接开车穿过了河流，河水

you drove right through it, the river

已经在我们身后上升，

already rising on the road behind us,

无法回头。

no turning around.

但自从你生病以来，我对它的回忆

But since your illness I recall it

发生了变化。现在我知道真的可能失去你，

differently. Now that I know it’s possible

我终于记起了

to lose you, I’m finally remembering

真实的事件。那天晚上，

it right. That night,

你挂上倒挡，

you threw that car in reverse,

猛踩油门。你为我们

and gunned it. You found us

找到了另一条回家的路。

another way home.