我为什么喜欢嫁给一位化学家--芭芭拉.克鲁克

因为他仍然会引起我的体内反应
当他谈论双分子亲核取代反应置换(作用)时，
胺类和脂类在它们酮类的基质上
寻找受体部位。因为他用力拖拉回家
严肃的大部头书，像美国化学学会杂志
或美国塑料行业的社会会刊,迥然不同的是
色彩丰富的诗歌薄卷，充满了我的书架。
因为曾经，多年之前，一个周六
黎明时在铃声叫醒我们喧闹的儿子之前，
他还站在浴室那里，都洗完澡了。
我说甜心，怎么啦？他哦了一声
我刚才想到了一种分子...

因为他教给我升华作用，一块固体，
像冰，可以直接变成气体
没有首先变成液体。因为即使此后的
时间一直待在一起，他仍然能
让我融化
Because he can still cause a reaction in me
when he talks about SN2 displacements,
amines and esters looking for receptor sites
at the base of their ketones. Because he lugs
home serious tomes like The Journal of the American
Chemical Society or The Proceedings of the Society
of the Plastics Industry, the opposite of the slim volumes
of poetry with colorful covers that fill my bookshelves.
Because once, years ago, on a Saturday before our
raucous son rang in the dawn, he was just
standing there in the bathroom, out of the shower.
I said Honey, what’s wrong? and he said Oh,
I was just thinking about a molecule.

Because he taught me about sublimation, how
a solid, like ice, can change straight to a gas
without becoming liquid first. Because even
after all this time together, he can still
make me melt.


“Why I Love Being Married to a Chemist” by Barbara Crooker from Les Fauves. © C & R Press, 2017