《速度草坪》马克·斯特兰德

《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.