The Speed ofBelief – (Excerpt) by tracy K. Smith
In memoriam,Floyd William Smith 1935–2008
When yourown sweet father died
You wokebefore first light
And ate halfa plate of eggs and grits,
And ate halfa plate of eggs and grits,
And drank aglass of milk.
当你自己亲爱的父亲去世时
你在天亮之前醒来
吃了半碟的鸡蛋和玉米糊，
喝一杯牛奶。
After you’d left,I sat in your place
And finishedthe toast bits with jam
And the coldeggs, the thick bacon
Flanged infat, savoring the taste.
在你离开之后，我坐在你的位置
吃完涂果酱的烤面包丁
凉鸡蛋，厚培根
泡在脂肪里，细细品味。
Then Islept, too young to know how narrow
And gravethe road before you seemed—
All thehouses zipped tight, the night’s
Few cloudsmuddy as cold coffee.
然后我入睡了，太年幼还意识不到
在你面前的路是多狭窄艰难
所有房屋紧闭，夜晚
几朵云浑浊如冷咖啡
You stayed gonea week, and who were we
Without yourclean profile nicking away
At anythingthat made us afraid?
One neighborsent a cake. We ate
你去了一星期，我们迷惘了，
没有你的清晰形象阻挡
任何使我们恐惧的东西？
一个邻居送来蛋糕，我们吃了
The bakedchickens, the honeyed hams.
We bowed ourheads and prayed
You’d comeback safe,
Knowing you would.
Knowing you would.
烤鸡，蜂蜜火腿。
我们低头祈祷
你会平安归来，
确信你会。
这篇译作得到京燕等朋友的修改指正，特此致谢！
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