我们永远拥有父母--玛丽.乔.索尔特

那不是他在卡萨布兰卡说的
严格来说那不是真的。尽管如此
我们永远拥有他们，就和我们拥有巴黎一样多。
他们都在我的行囊中，或可能就是
旧式的行李，在行进之前，
我们记得当时我们打包去巴黎。
或忘记了。巴黎不知道
你是否想着它。你父母亲也不会，
虽然他们说你应多多看望，
好像他们和巴黎一样有趣。
巴黎和你的父母亲在你的头脑中
有时无感觉有时栩栩如生。
同时，那些情人，每年都更年轻
（因为每一次重映我们都变得更老了），
劝说我们越来越少，因为他们所有的香烟
为巴黎的乐事闪闪发亮的未流出的眼泪
在他们的后视镜里变得模糊，
他们的老于世故超过了我们。
理所当然，他们在我父母之前诞生
但鲍加特和褒曼，他们现在看起来
都似乎不像我们自己的孩子？
想想我们如何才能帮助！我们禁止他们深夜外出，
一直把他们留着家里，阻止他们注定要倒霉的爱情！
来看看我们，孩子。你要感谢你的父母亲。
It isn’t what he said in Casablanca
and it isn’t strictly true. Nonetheless
we’ll always have them, much as we have Paris.
They’re in our baggage, or perhaps are baggage
of the old-fashioned type, before the wheels,
which we remember when we pack for Paris.
Or don’t remember. Paris doesn’t know
if you’re thinking of it. Neither do your parents,
although they say you ought to visit more,
as if they were as interesting as Paris.
Both Paris and your parents are as dead
and as alive as what’s inside your head.
Meanwhile, those lovers, younger every year
(because with every rerun we get older),
persuade us less, for all their cigarettes
and shining unshed tears about the joy
of Paris blurring in their rearview mirror,
that they’ve surpassed us in sophistication.
Granted, they were born before our parents
but don’t they seem by now, Bogart and Bergman,
like our own children? Think how we could help!
We could ban their late nights, keep them home
the whole time, and prevent their ill-starred romance!
Here’s looking at us, Kid. You’ll thank your parents.
“We’ll Always Have Parents” by Mary Jo Salter from The Surveyors. © Knopf, 2017