我將會沉浸於什麼景象
比這個好，
一個平常的夜晚在廚房餐桌旁，
花牆紙壓入近逼，
白櫃櫥放滿了玻璃杯，
電話沈默，
一支筆偏斜回我的手裡？
這給我時間去考慮
發生在外面的一切—
落葉向角落聚集，
地衣綠了高高的灰色岩石。
而世界航行在沙丘之上，
龐大，朝向海，歷史冒泡尾隨。
但超出桌子之外
沒有我的需要，
甚至沒一份職業讓我劃向工作，
或一輛咖啡色的奧斯頓馬丁DB4
配置着破裂的綠色皮車座。
不，全在這裡，
一杯水的清晰橢圓，
一小條板箱桔子，一本有關斯大林的書，
不去提及那奇特的惡吠魚
在牆上的一個框架里，
和那三支蠟燭的情形—
高矮各異—
正在完善和諧的歌唱。
那麼原諒我
如果我此時低頭傾聽
那個短低音蠟燭的獨唱。
而我的心
在我的襯衣下亂彈—
青蛙在池塘的邊緣—
我的思緒卻飛離向一個
用一個極其巨大的天空
和百萬個空洞的分支構築的地方。

I Ask You

What scene would I want to be enveloped in
more than this one,
an ordinary night at the kitchen table,
floral wallpaper pressing in,
white cabinets full of glass,
the telephone silent,
a pen tilted back in my hand?
It gives me time to think
about all that is going on outside—
leaves gathering in corners,
lichen greening the high grey rocks,
while over the dunes the world sails on,
huge, ocean-going, history bubbling in its wake.
But beyond this table
there is nothing that I need,
not even a job that would allow me to row to work,
or a coffee-colored Aston Martin DB4
with cracked green leather seats.
No, it's all here,
the clear ovals of a glass of water,
a small crate of oranges, a book on Stalin,
not to mention the odd snarling fish
in a frame on the wall,
and the way these three candles—
each a different height—
are singing in perfect harmony.
So forgive me
if I lower my head now and listen
to the short bass candle as he takes a solo
while my heart
thrums under my shirt—
frog at the edge of a pond—
and my thoughts fly off to a province
made of one enormous sky
and about a million empty branches.

By Billy Collins