一名男子和前妻在电话里交谈。

A man talking to his ex-wife on the phone.

他一直很喜欢她的声音，专注聆听

He has loved her voice and listens with attention

其声调中每一抑扬顿挫。对它

to every modulation of its tone. Knowing

十分熟悉。不清楚自己对那声音，

it intimately. Not knowing what he wants

对那温婉的客套有何欲求。

from the sound of it, from the tendered civility.

他仔细端详，窗外，观赏用树木

He studies, out the window, the seed shapes

裂开之豆荚的种子形状。

of the broken pods of ornamental trees.

长在每家花园里的那种，除了园艺家

The kind that grow in everyone's garden, that no one

谁也叫不出名字的那种。四个淡绿色

but horticulturists can name. Four arched chambers

拱形房间，小型的植物舞台拱门，

of pale green, tiny vegetal proscenium arches,

每个房间内安置了一对黑色锥形种子。

a pair of black tapering seeds bedded in each chamber.

愿望的几何学，纤细画，印度或波斯的，

A wish geometry, miniature, Indian or Persian,

他们公寓里的恋人或神祇。外头，白色，

lovers or gods in their apartments. Outside, white,

耐心的动物，还有纠缠的藤蔓，和雨。

patient animals, and tangled vines, and rain.