年复一年他们在追猎，

After Jim Steinmeyer’s book “Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear”

叛逃的钟表学徒，

改换门庭的

Over the years they hunted,

不肖之子，细察

the wayward apprentice watchmakers,

门枢和齿轮的圆弧，

the disappointing sons who transformed

脚鸡眼和私藏的威士忌，

their surnames, hunted over acres

检视野猫的胡须

of hinges, cogs, calluses, hidden whiskey,

倾泄大海一般的财富

mustaches a breath from feral,

把钢和铜编织在一起，

poured an ocean of fortune

用一个又一个季节

into fabrications of brass and iron,

拔弄无穷无尽的琴弦

spent entire seasons strumming

让它们精妙协调一同消隐，

massive harps of wire into perfect

向变形镜中的神灵祈祷，

calibrations of invisibility,

诅咒忽明忽暗的煤气灯，

prayed to the gods of adjustable mirrors,

打断模仿者和小偷的腿，

cursed the gods of temperamental gaslights,

在彼此的口袋上挖洞，

broke the legs of imitators and thieves,

操纵噩梦一般巨大的银环，

chewed holes in each other’s pockets,

无数次越过死人的尸身，

harnessed nightmares of giant silver hoops

高举千百只被献祭兔子的纪念碑，

making endless passes over the bodies

小心地把几里长的细丝

of the dead, hoisted high a cenotaph

吹进它们肺的迷宫，

for hundreds of sacrificed rabbits,

只是为了让一个女人飘浮

breathed miles of delicate thread

让一个女人飘浮

into the lost labyrinths of their lungs,

他们之中从来没有人想过，

all to make a woman float

征求一下她的意见。

to make a woman float

and none of them ever thought

of simply asking her.