日落

【美】路易丝‧格吕克    陈子弘 译

与夕阳西沉同时进行，
农场工人正烧着枯叶。

不值一提，这火。
小事一桩，可控，
就像专断家主操持家庭。

然则，火一燃猛，这工人就无影；
在路上，是看不见他的。

与太阳一比，这里全部的火
都是短命鬼，而且很外行——
叶子一燃尽，它们就收场。
之后，工人又冒头，耙开灰烬。

但生死并不掺假。
一如太阳做它准备好要做的事，
让田野长出东西，然后
激发大地的热望。
那么现在就可以落了。

SUNSET

At the same time as the sun’s setting,
a farm worker’s burning dead leaves.

It’s nothing, this fire.
It’s a small thing, controlled,
like a family run by a dictator.

Still, when it blazes up, the farm worker disappears;
from the road, he’s invisible.

Compared to the sun, all the fires here
are short-lived, amateurish—
they end when the leaves are gone.
Then the farm worker reappears, raking the ashes.

But the death is real.
As though the sun’s done what it came to do,
made the field grow, then
inspired the burning of earth.
So it can set now.

                            Louise Glück