The Rival
对手

If the moon smiled, she would resemble you.
如果月亮笑过，她会像你。

You leave the same impression
你留下对美丽之物

Of something beautiful, but annihilating.
同样的印象，但在消失中。

Both of you are great light borrowers.
你俩都是光的伟大借用者。

Her O-mouth grieves at the world;yours is unaffected,
她那圆嘴感时伤事；你却无动于衷，

And your first gift is making stone out of everything.
你的第一天赋是用石块创造一切。

I wake to a mausoleum;you are here,
我醒来看到陵墓；你在这里，

Ticking your fingers on the marble table, looking for cigarettes,
你的手指在大理石桌上轻敲，寻找着香烟，

Spiteful as a woman, but not so nervous,
如女人般怀有恶意，但没有焦虑，

And dying to say something unanswerable.
渴望说些无可争辩的话。

The moon, too, abases her subjects,
月亮，也在，贬低她的臣民，

But in the daytime she is ridiculous.
而在白天，她是可笑的。

Your dissatisfactions, on the other hand,
你的各种不满意，另一方面，

Arrive through the mailslot with loving regularity,
穿过邮箱槽口，有规律地抵达，

White and blank, expansive as carbon monoxide.
白色又空虚，如一氧化碳般弥散。

No day is safe from news of you,
每天有你的消息，才会感到安全。

Walking about in Africa maybe, but thinking of me.
也许漫步于非洲，却思念着我。

(1961/07. pp.166—167. No. 147)
* * *