Connie’s Reviews > My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree: Selected Poems > Status Update

BETWEEN STRANGERS

Stranger, who can measure the distance between us?
Distance is the rumor of a never-before-seen sea.
Distance the width of a layer of dust.
Maybe we need only strike a match for my world to flicker in your sky,
Visible finally, and eye-to-eye.
Breachable, finally, the border between us.
What if we touched? What then?
Would something in us hum an old familiar song?
Maybe then our feet would wear a path back and forth
between our lives, like houses in neighboring lots.
Would you give me what I lack? Your winter coat,
Your favorite battered pot? Logic warns: unlikely.
History tells me to guard my distance
When I pass you on the street, and I obey.
But—to stumble into you, or you into me—
Wouldn't it be sweet? In reality,

I keep to myself. You keep to you. We have nothing
To rue. So why does remorse rise almost to my brim,
And also in you?

1985

陌生人之间

陌生人，谁能测出你我之间的距离？
这距离或者像欧洲和太平洋，
这距离或者只是不可再分的，
一层微薄的空间，
也许只需擦亮一根火柴，
两个陌生的世界就可以互相看见，
也许面对面一分钟，
然后就可以跨进那个并不存在的门坎，
也许当敏感的手指碰到手指，
两颗心就奏响了一曲无声的和弦，
也许当脚印重复，再重复，
寂寞的行程就会消除韧性的防线，
也许一次礼节性的谦让，
却彼此获得了索取一切的特权。
陌生人啊，当一切也许都没有发生，
你我就在交臂之间走过去了，
各走各的经过选择的道路，
直到死，我们没有一句交谈。
那两个辉煌的思想的碰撞是可能的啊！
⋯⋯
然而，一切都没有发生。
因为陌生，我们不可能恨不相逢，
而这种恨几乎充满了我们每个人的生活。

1985