诗歌是一种货币

Poetry is a kind of money

其价值取决于储备。

whose value depends upon reserves.

不是写在纸上的

It’s not the paper it’s written on

或自我宣称的面额，

or its self-announced denomination,

而金条，在土里大汗淋漓

but the bullion, sweated from the earth

并隐藏着，保留了它的价值。

and hidden, which preserves its worth.

没有人知道这是怎么回事，

Nobody knows how this works,

怎么能（办到）呢？为什么有些东西

and how can it? Why does something

堆放在某些秘密银行或柜橱，

stacked in some secret bank or cabinet,

或者守财奴的宝库，远远的，闪闪发光，

some miser’s trove, far back, lambent,

当它的傀儡和幸灾乐祸，

and gloated over by its golem, make us

当曼德尔斯塔姆说，黄金，（为什么）让我们

so solemnly convinced of the transaction

如此郑重相信这桩交易，甚至

when Mandelstam says love, even

在翻译呢？

in translation?

译注：

约瑟夫曼德尔施塔姆（OsipMandelstam）：苏联时期诗人，被斯大林杀害。

黄金：第一稿时是love，但在她的诗集《The Best of It》里改为Gold。