黑魆魆的床上睡眠的鞘套

Sheath of sleep in the black of the bed:

从这梦的子宫外头传来

From outside this dream womb

传来一声咔嗒

Comes a clatter

传来一声咔嗒

Comes a clatter

终于，意识里跳出一个念头

And finally the mind rises up to a fact

像鱼儿上了钩

Like a fish to a hook

浣熊在厨房！

A raccoon at the kitchen!

金属碗掉落，

A falling of metal bowls,

罐子碰撞

the clashing of jars,

盘子雪崩！

the avalanche of plates

这些夜夜上演的把戏把我猛地惊醒

I snap alive to the ritual

我摇摇晃晃起身，摸到了方位

Rise unsteady, find my feet,

抓过棍子，在黑暗中猛冲——

Grab the stick, dash in the dark—

我是走起路来地动山摇的巨魔

I’m a huge pounding demon

对着浣熊怒吼——

That roars at raccoons –

它们在墙角乱窜碰壁，

They whip around the corner,

一阵抓挠声告诉我

A scratching sound tells me

它们逃上树了。

they’ve gone up a tree.

我站在树下

I stand at the base

两只小浣熊趴在

Two young ones that perch on

两根截过的树枝上

Two dead stub limbs and

从树干两侧向下张望着我：

Peer down from both sides of the trunk:

怒吼，怒吼，我怒吼

Roar, roar, I roar

你们这些该死的浣熊，多少个夜晚

you awful raccoons, you wake me

把我吵醒，搞乱了

up nights, you ravage

厨房

our kitchen

待我站定，而后静默

As I stay there then silent

空气中的寒意从皮肤开始

The chill of the air on my nakedness

刺激着我裸露的身体

Starts off the skin

我完全感受到了夜。

I am all alive to the night.

光脚在砂地上留印

Bare foot shaping on gravel

手握棍棒，一刻不松。

Stick in the hand, forever.

长云散去

Long streak of cloud giving way

现出乳白的微光

To a milky thin light

黑乎乎的松枝后，

Back of black pine bough,

月亮还圆着，

The moon is still full,

满枝的松林都在

Hillsides of Pine trees all

耳语；蛐蛐还在幽暗

Whispering; crickets still cricketting

冰冷的小洞内低吟

Faint in cold coves in the dark

我转身缓步

I turn and walk back slow

走回通向卧床的小径

Back the path to the beds

身上起着鸡皮疙瘩，头上是蓬松凌乱的头发

With goosebumps and lose waving hair

乳白色月光照亮薄云

In the night of milk-moonlit thin cloud glow

黑松林沙沙作响，这样的夜晚

And black rustling pines

我如同一棵蒲公英

I feel like a dandelion head

开始播撒种子

Gone to seed

即将肆意纷飞至各处

About to be blown away

或像一株海葵在珍珠般闪耀的冰凉海水

Or a sea anemone open and waving in

绽放漂浮。

cool pearly water.

五十岁。

Fifty years old.

依旧穷于

I still spend my time

把螺母拧上螺栓。

Screwing nuts down on bolts.

阴影里，

At the shadow pool,

孩子们在酣睡，

Children are sleeping,

还有我相濡多年的爱人，

And a lover I’ve lived with for years,

真切的夜。

True night.

无人能在这样的黑暗中

One cannot stay too long awake

长久醒着

In this dark

尘泥沾足，发丝纷乱，

Dusty feet, hair tangling,

我俯身钻回

I stoop and slip back to the

鞘中，为了我依旧需要的睡眠，

Sheath, for the sleep I still need,

为了每天随黎明

For the waking that comes

而来的

Every day

醒。

With the dawn.