Grace Schulman

∷于琰 譯析

Warnings go unheard in all this brightness.

Sun’s fire licks the poplars on a road

that will be flooded in, they say, three hours.

Abandon homes. Move on, or else you’ll spin

with the storm on radar, now an amoeba1,

sleeping, one great eye narrowed to an almond2,

now a ball of ice tossed in the air,

posed to cast out sharp needles to the ground.

The flagpole trembles on the courthouse roof.

The city gates are closing. Save yourself.

What to believe? On a flat bay, wet wind

washes me clean. Crows are crows, not prophecies.3

If so, why does the lightning zigzag closer?

Why are my hands so cold? Because the law

Flashes in white letters: Seek higher ground.

Why are the people buying Yahrzeit candles4

in glass jars, the kind that burn all night?

Because they are the only lights in stores.

Because God, who sends floods, gives us sight,

powerless unpowered5. When the marina’s

a spectral6dock, my body is the only ark

to weather high waves. In screaming darkness,

my neighbor’s voice, yesterday a growl7,

drifts softly. Now a lamp flickers, now

the storm has passed, the city gates swing open

in a deadly calm. Unpack my fears.

I cannot see the fire in the poplars.

滿世界的燦爛里，警報(bào)無人理會。

烈日的火舌舔舐著路上的白楊樹

據(jù)說三個小時后便會被洪水淹沒。

撤離房屋。前行，不然你將隨著

雷達(dá)上的風(fēng)暴旋舞，現(xiàn)在是休眠

的小蟲，蜷縮至杏仁般小的巨眼，

現(xiàn)在是于高空中顛簸的一個冰球，

只待向大地噴射無數(shù)尖銳的針芒。

縣政府大樓的屋頂上，旗桿顫栗。

城門正在關(guān)閉。請實(shí)施自我營救。

何物可信？平坦的海灣上，濕風(fēng)

把我洗凈。鴉群即鴉群，非預(yù)兆。

倘若如此，為何閃電正曲行逼近？

為何我的手如此冰冷？因?yàn)槁煞?/p>

以煞白的字眼閃爍：請尋找高地。

為何人們正搶購裝在玻璃瓶中的

周年忌辰蠟燭，整夜燃燒的那種？

因?yàn)榈昀镏皇Ｏ逻@種照明用品了。

因?yàn)榍步岛榱鞯纳系垡操n予我們

光明，無力并無需驅(qū)動。當(dāng)船塢

空無人煙，我的軀體是唯一可以

經(jīng)受驚濤駭浪的方舟。在叫喊不絕

的黑暗中，我那昨日還在咆哮的

鄰居，漸漸小了聲響。燈光明滅，

現(xiàn)在風(fēng)雨已過，城門在死一般的

寂靜中旋開。卸下我的諸多恐懼。

我已無法再看見白楊樹間的火光。