Do Not Expect
Do not expect that if your book falls open
to a certain page, that any phrase
you read will make a difference today,
or that the voices you might overhear
when the wind moves through the yellow-green
and golden tent of autumn, speak to you.
Things ripen or go dry. Light plays on the
dark surface of the lake. Each afternoon
your shadow walks beside you on the wall,
and the days stay long and heavy underneath
the distant rumor of the harvest. One
more summer gone,
and one way or another you survive,
dull or regretful, never learning that
nothing is hidden in the obvious
changes of the world, that even the dim
reflection of the sun on tall, dry grass
is more than you will ever understand.
And only briefly then
you touch, you see, you press against
the surface of impenetrable things.
—Dana Gioia
不要指望
不要指望如果你的书打开
在某特定的页面，你读到的
语句今天将带来不同运数，
抑或风吹过黄绿处
和秋季的金色帐篷时
你可能听到的声音在向你述说。
总有事物成熟或风干。光戏谑
在湖的黑暗表面。每天下午
你的影子在墙上和你行走，
而在丰收的遥远的谣言下
日子沉重漫长。
又一个夏天过去，
这样或那样活着，
单调或遗憾，从未学会
没有什么是隐藏在
世界上的显著变化中，即使是
映射在高高的，枯干的草上的昏暗阳光
也比你能明白的更多。
然后，仅仅短暂地
你触摸，你查看，你按压
坚不可摧的事物表面。