The Janss Steps

I have climbed upon these stairs before.
They were a mountain, steep, needing the grip
of foot on ledge. At the top, my mother's lure:
she called, "let's go!", the trumpet of a ship

that blares to cheering sailors: I see land!
I pushed, femur and tibia struck and set,
my knee locked down, I took my mother's hand.
I have just climbed UCLA's Janss Steps.

Eighty-seven steps a fat child huffed on.
He fell, a champ, into his mom's embrace.
Eighty-seven steps I still climb at dawn.
Like a tugboat I keep my mother's pace.

We watch the sun. It dries my sweat like tar,
it climbs as I have climbed to touch the sky.
Yet I am luckier than that rising star,
For, for, though men aren't born with wings to fly--

Though we plod with joints like hinges,
though we sometimes mope around listless,
though our voices turn to crows from finches,
though we must one day cross that River Styx

When I was a boy my mother's arms would lift,
far, far above that watery rift!

詹斯台阶路

小时候我就经常爬这座楼梯

就像一座大山，陡峭，每一步都得小心

在我头上，妈妈在招手：“快走啊，小宝贝！”

妈妈的召唤像船头的小号

回应着水手们的欢笑：看见陆地了！

我咬咬牙坚持，抬起我的腿，迈步

我的膝盖抽筋，但我够到了妈妈的手。

我征服了UCLA的詹斯大台阶！

八十七级大台阶那个小胖子喘吁吁的上

他终于爬到顶，妈妈等在山顶上

八十七级大台阶那是一个早上

像条被拖着的船我把妈妈赶上。

我们迎着晨曦，阳光照在我的脸上

就像我一样，太阳也爬上了天

可比起朝阳我更加幸福

因为，因为

即使人生来没有翅膀

即使人靠关节笨重的挪动脚步

即使人经常懒洋洋缺乏生气

即使人的声音一会麻雀一会儿变乌鸦

即使有一天每个人都会趟过那三千弱水。。。

在我还是个小男孩的时候，我妈妈的胳臂

早已把我高高的，高高的举到了天上