天黑之前-温德尔.贝里

黄昏时我在门廊上
看着一只翠鸟胡乱飞着
他可能只是以此为乐。

他飞落到河里，拍击
水模糊的脸蛋
像一块打水漂的石头，

继续漂过看不见了。但
我仍然能听见
离我越来越远的溅水声

随着天变得越来越暗。他以
同样飞方式回来了，暗淡如他的影子，
突然飞越柳梢。

飞溅声继续，渐渐听不见了。
然后天黑了。夜晚在某个地方
留宿了他

--在他前往的那个地方
或被他的快乐带到的地方
他来了。
From the porch at dusk I watched
a kingfisher wild in flight
he could only have made for joy.

He came down the river, splashing
against the water’s dimming face
like a skipped rock, passing

on down out of sight. And still
I could hear the splashes
farther and farther away

as it grew darker. He came back
the same way, dusky as his shadow,
sudden beyond the willows.

The splashes went on out of hearing.
It was dark then. Somewhere
the night had accommodated him

—at the place he was headed for
or where, led by his delight,
he came.
“Before Dark” by Wendell Berry from Collected Poems. © North Point Press, 1985.