The Moon Was A Fat Woman Once

They are always with us, the thin people
他們永遠與我們同在,身材矮小的灰色人
Meager of dimension as the gray people
像灰色的人一樣渺小
On a movie- screen. They are unreal, we say:
在電影屏幕上。它們是不真實的，我們說：
It was only in a movie, it was only in a war making evil headlines
那隻是在一部電影裡，只是在一場戰爭中成為邪惡的頭條新聞
when we were small that they famished and grew so lean and
當我們還小的時候，他們非常飢餓，變得非常瘦弱
would not round out their stalky limbs again though peace
即使是在和平時期，它們也不會再次伸出粗壯的四肢
Plumped the bellies of the mice under the meanest table.
在最簡陋的桌子下，老鼠們鼓足了肚子。
It was during the long hunger-battle
在漫長的飢餓鬥爭中
They found their talent to persevere
他們發現自己有堅持不懈的才能
In thinness, to come, later ,
瘦弱的，以後再來
Into our bad dreams, their menace
進入我們的噩夢，他們的威脅
Not guns, not abuses,
不是槍，不是虐待，
But a thin silence.
只有微弱的沉默。
Wrapped in flea ridden donkey skins or bits of burlap,
帶著滿是跳蚤的驢皮或粗麻布
squatting together on granite steps where
一起蹲在花崗岩台階上
the mica glinted at noonday like broken glass -- famous for their scantness.
雲母在中午像碎玻璃一樣閃閃發光，以其稀少而聞名。
Empty of complaint, forever drinking vinegar from tin cups:
沒有怨言，永遠用錫杯喝醋:
they wore the insufferable nimbus of the lot-drawn scapegoat.
他們戴著難以忍受的光環，就像抽籤的替罪羊。
But so thin,
但是這麼瘦，
So ****y a race could not remain in dreams,
所以一個種族不能停留在夢裡，
Could not remain outlandish victims
不能成為古怪的受害者
In the contracted country of the head
在合同規定的國家
Any more than the old woman in her mud hut could
比那個住在泥屋裡的老婦人所能做的還要多
Keep from cutting fat meat
不要切肥肉
Out of the side of the generous moon when itset foot nightly in her yard
當月亮每晚踏上她的院子時
Until her knife had pared the moon to a rind of little light.
直到她的刀把月亮削成一層微光。
Now the thin people do not obliterate themselves as the dawn
現在瘦弱的人不會像黎明一樣毀滅自己
Grayness blues, reddens, and the outline of the world comes clear and fills with color.
灰色、藍色、紅色，世界的輪廓清晰而充滿色彩。
They persist in the sunlit room: the wall paper
他們堅持在陽光明媚的房間裡：牆紙
Frieze of cabbage-roses and cornflowers pales
捲心菜玫瑰和矢車菊的飾帶蒼白
Under their thin-lipped smiles,
在他們薄薄的微笑下，
Their withering kingship.
他們衰敗的王位。
How they prop each other up!
他們是如何互相支撐的！
They outnumber us in the towns and cities.
在城鎮裡他們的人數超過了我們。
We own no wildernesses rich and deep enough
我們沒有足夠豐富和深厚的荒野
For stronghold against their stiff battalions.
作為據點對抗他們的硬漢營。
See, how the tree boles flatten
看，樹幹是怎麼變平的
And lose their good browns
失去了他們的好臉蛋
If the thin people simply stand in the forest ,
如果瘦弱的人只是站在森林裡，
Making the world go thin as a wasps nest and grayer;
讓世界變得像蜂窩一樣稀疏和灰白;
not even moving their bones.
甚至不動他們的骨頭。