审查人--约翰.惠特沃思

那儿屋子寒冷空荡，花园植蔓生长，
他们在那儿。
那儿一部断开的电话机旁，摆放着未拆开的信件，
他们在那儿。
那里你的脚步声在每一块月光照耀的鹅卵石上奇怪低回响，
那里你的身后是一条阴影的小溪，但那影子不是你自己的，
你可能会想到世界是你的牡蛎，但它是骨头，骨头，骨头：
他们在那里，他们在那里，他们在那里。

他们可以对一句拉丁语作句法分析；他们和普罗提诺一样知识渊博，
他们就这样。
他们锋利如奥卡姆剃刀，他们机智如阿奎萘，
他们是建造了墙的未知数的中国皇帝，
他们监禁我们，然后中伤我们，最终他们逐渐损害我们，
他们就这样，他们就这样，他们就这样。

他们假设它是关税或他们把它视为通行费，
他们就这样。
承包人认为他们都不能自制地偷窃，
他们就这样
他们将会以品质控制皱缩你的雄心，
他们将让你的激情枯竭，然后掏空你灵魂的内脏，
榨取你的生命像绞干一块海绵，把你的身体塞入一个洞，
他们就这样，他们就这样，他们就这样。

在你梦中的沙漠中，他们在沙墩后面背负重物，
他们就这样
在有七个月亮环绕的未被发现的星球上，
他们就这样。
他们在所有的箱子上打上记号，尽力做到让你吃你的梅干，
他们用氦气球发送秘密消息，
他们哼着巴赫的清唱曲，他们正演奏着疯狂的旋律，
他们就这样，他们就这样，他们就这样。

他们就这样，他们就这样，像风中的低语，
他们就这样。
他们涂满我们希望和绝望的肥皂，滑头滑脑，
他们就这样。
所以就这样无所事事，如果我们表示愤怒或假装我们从来不在乎，
如果问题都是多余的，打分都不公平，
因为我们知道他们要逼我们，我们只是不知道什么时候或在什么地方，
他们就这样，他们就这样，他们就这样。
 Where the house is cold and empty and the garden’s overgrown,
  They are there.
Where the letters lie unopened by a disconnected phone,
  They are there.
Where your footsteps echo strangely on each moonlit cobblestone,
Where a shadow streams behind you but the shadow’s not your own,
You may think the world’s your oyster but it’s bone, bone, bone:
  They are there, they are there, they are there.

They can parse a Latin sentence; they’re as learned as Plotinus,
  They are there.
They’re as sharp as Ockham’s razor, they’re as subtle as Aquinas,
  They are there.
They define us and refine us with their beta-query-minus,
They’re the wall-constructing emperors of undiscovered Chinas,
They confine us, then malign us, in the end they undermine us,
  They are there, they are there, they are there.

They assume it as an impost or they take it as a toll,
  They are there.
The contractors grant them all that they incontinently stole,
  They are there.
They will shrivel your ambition with their quality control,
They will desiccate your passion, then eviscerate your soul,
Wring your life out like a sponge and stuff your body down a hole,
  They are there, they are there, they are there.

In the desert of your dreaming they are humped behind the dunes,
  They are there.
On the undiscovered planet with its seven circling moons,
  They are there.
They are ticking all the boxes, making sure you eat your prunes,
They are sending secret messages by helium balloons,
They are humming Bach cantatas, they are playing looney tunes,
  They are there, they are there, they are there.

They are there, they are there, like a whisper on the air,
  They are there.
They are slippery and soapy with our hope and our despair,
  They are there.
So it’s idle if we bridle or pretend we never care,
If the questions are superfluous and the marking isn’t fair,
For we know they’re going to get us, we just don’t know when or where,
  They are there, they are there, they are there.