寂寞
鄉下小孩子怕寂寞，
枕頭邊養一只蟈蟈；
長大了在城裡操勞，
他買了一個夜明表。
小時候他常常羨豔
墓草做蟈蟈的家園；
如今他死了三小時，
夜明表還不曾休止。
-卞之琳
Lone-li-ness
The boy from the countryside dreaded loneliness,
So he kept a grasshopper by the pillowcase;
He grew up labouring in town,
and bought a watch that shines all night long.
As a child he’d always envied the grasshoppers
who homed in the graveyard grass;
Now the old boy is dead for three hours,
The second-hand of the luminous watch plods along.
-Bian Zhilin (Translated by Huiwen Shi)
