篱笆线边仅有一棵树
这儿在蒙大拿州，有点像
内布拉斯加沙丘上的一棵树，
那可能在几英里之外。当我穿过布满了
岩石，金花鼠洞，獾穴，草原狼窝，
和响尾蛇窝的草场地时（一千只在十年内被杀死因为
他们不能和狗及儿童很好地相处）在一个小时的行走之后
到达一棵树，我发现它很压抑。可能它的年龄
和我一样大，承受着其孤独，
所有的疙瘩和扭曲源自风霜雨打。
我倚靠着它坐下直到我们融为一体，
当我在寒冷刮风的黄昏回家时
我感觉我已经离开多年。
There's a single tree at the fence line
here in Montana, a little like a tree
in the Sandhills of Nebraska, which may be miles
away. When I cross the unfertile pasture strewn
with rocks and the holes of gophers, badgers, coyotes,
and the rattlesnake den (a thousand killed
in a decade because they don't mix well with dogs
and children) in an hour's walking and reach
the tree, I find it oppressive. Likely it's
as old as I am, withstanding its isolation,
all gnarled and twisted from its battle
with weather. I sit against it until we merge,
and when I return home in the cold, windy
twilight I feel I've been gone for years.
"Fence Line Tree" by Jim Harrison, from Saving Daylight. © Copper Canyon Press, 2006. Reprinted with permission
