Why east wind chills
为何东风凛冽
Why east wind chills and south wind cools
Shall not be known till windwell dries
And west's no longer drowned
In winds that bring the fruit and rind
Of many a hundred falls;
Why silk is soft and the stone wounds
The child shall question all his days,
Why night-time rain and the breast's blood
Both quench his thirst he'll have a black reply.
为何东风凛冽，南风送爽
要到风井干涸枯竭
西天不再沉溺于风中
才会知晓风成百上千次地
吹落秋天硬皮的果实；
为什么丝绸柔软，石头伤人
孩子会整天地询问，
为什么夜雨和乳血双双替他解渴，
而他却得到一个黑沉沉的回答。
When cometh Jack Frost? the children ask.
Shall they clasp a comet in their fists?
Not till, from high and low, their dust
Sprinkles in children's eyes a long-last sleep
And dusk is crowded with the children's ghosts,
Shall a white answer echo from the rooftops.
杰克寒霜何时降临？孩子们问。
他们的手心会否攥住彗星？
除非孩子们的尘埃，忽高忽低，
在他们的眼里撒下漫长的睡眠，
黄昏时分挤满孩子们的幽灵，
白色的回答才会在屋顶回荡。
All things are known: the stars' advice
Calls some content to travel with the winds,
Though what the stars ask as they round
Time upon time the towers of the skies
Is heard but little till the stars go out.
I hear content, and 'Be content'
Ring like a handbell through the corridors,
And 'Know no answer,' and I know
No answer to the children's cry
Of echo's answer and the man of frost
And ghostly comets over the raised fists.
万物皆可知：星星的建议
呼唤内涵与风同行，
尽管满天星斗的疑虑
不时地环绕天空之塔，
直到西沉才依稀可闻。
我听到内涵，“满意”
仿佛摇响一只手铃穿过回廊，
“没有答案”，我知道
无法答复孩子们的乞求，
答复有关回声、寒霜之人以及
高举的拳头之上幽灵般的彗星。
