我们以为火吞噬木柴。
我们错了。它找上
烈焰。火舔吻
木柴怀抱的宝，它自己
纵身于那无间的亲密，
就这样，我们和世界
遭遇，每一新的一日。苦与乐
在相逢中。 正如心之所遇
并非心灵，是精神
会合肉身，嘴，邂逅
另一口中的新奇。我们站立
看着我们花园的废墟
在十一月的暮色中，听到乌鸦
掠过，当初雪四处冰冷闪耀。悲伤使心
如同突然幸福能作到的那样明显。

(微笑 译)

HARM AND BOON IN THE MEETINGS

by Jack Gilbert

We think the fire eats the wood.
We are wrong. The wood reaches out
to the flame. The fire licks at
what the wood harbors, and the wood
gives itself away to that intimacy,
the manner in which we and the world
meet each new day. Harm and boon
in the meetings. As heart meets what
is not heart, the way the spirit
encounters the flesh and the mouth meets
the foreignness in another mouth. We stand
looking at the ruin of our garden
in the early dark of November, hearing crows
go over while the first snow shines coldly
everywhere. Grief makes the heart
apparent as much as sudden happiness can.