念头

【美】詹姆斯·梅里尔     陈子弘 译

你若年老时还在细思
那些什么和为什么
另一念的最后一闪
就会在你眼前掠过。

不要紧，它们同样会坏掉，
那些点燃的灯丝，
亮光的碎屑
仍还封装在灯泡中

转瞬间就烫手因而拿不住，
想融入记忆却又嫌暗淡，
之后，为了敏捷地拧松
亲爱的，除非现在你

洞悉它光亮的来处，
有肋骨的粘土构成每个夜晚
便衰退成反复的
化身，假如没有点燃。

                  1987

IDEA

By James Merrill

If when you're old and musing
Upon the whats and whys
Another one should flicker
Its last before your eyes,

No matter, they wear out too,
Those burning filaments,
Illumination’s debris
Englobed still in a sense

Briefly too hot to handle,
Too dark a souvenir,
Then, for the deft unscrewing
Unless you now, my dear,

Feel for what it shone from,
This ribbed clay form each night
Hardens to iteration
Of nothing if not light.

                                      1987