《速度草坪》
【加】 马克·斯特兰德（1934 — ）
现在我可以说没有可能的事
除非离开房屋，站在它前面，注视着
尽我所能地极目山谷。我知道一列火车，
曳引一条蒸汽头巾。将会到达，晓得不久天将下雨。
一片云带在镇上投落它的阴影，
一驰劲风抚平草甸，也横扫
越过橄榄树丛，以及蜀葵与蔷薇的垄埂。
空气充溢清甜，一个女孩对着几只乌鸦
挥舞枝条，它们那么远，望去就像蝇群。
她的母亲，戴着披肩与围巾，遮挡住眼睛。
让我疑惑的是，其实并没有太阳。这时有人
出现并说道，“看那些堆成一堵墙的云，那些飞往
天外的乌鸦，那些田地，淡绿，黄绿色，
滚滚而去，还有那女孩与她的母亲，挥手告别。”
片刻间天空被一片微红的阴霾弄污，
我身边的那个人跑开了。那是黄昏，
城镇的灯火开始亮起，而我看见，起初模糊，
靠近成排的屈身柏树围绕的墓园，
女孩和她的母亲，依偎在一起，
冒着烟，将她们的后跟辗进地面。
2014.4.30
Velocity Meadows
Mark Strand
I can say now that nothing was possible
But leaving the house and standing in front of it, staring
As long as I could into the valley. I knew that a train,
Trailing a scarf of smoke, would arrive, that soon it would rain.
A frieze of clouds lowered a shadow over the town,
And a driving wind flattened the meadows that swept
Beyond the olive trees and banks of hollyhock and rose.
The air smelled sweet, and a girl was waving a stick
At some crows so far away they seemed like flies.
Her mother, wearing a cape and shawl, shielded her eyes.
I wondered from what, since there was no sun. Then someone
Appeared and said, "Look at those clouds forming a wall, those crows
Falling out of the sky, those fields, pale green, green-yellow,
Rolling away, and that girl and her mother, waving goodbye."
In a moment the sky was stained with a reddish haze,
And the person beside me was running away. It was dusk,
The lights of the town were coming on, and I saw, dimly at first,
Close to the graveyard bound by rows of cypress bending down,
The girl and her mother, next to each other,
Smoking, grinding their heels into the ground.
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