因为在这个世界里要迷路一个人只要闭上眼睛转圈就行了……直到我们
迷失……我们才开始发现我们自己。

           梭罗，《瓦尔登湖》

好先生：这是我们在八岁和
十岁时玩的一个老游戏。
有时在那岛上，在缅因下游，
在八月末，当冷雾从海
吹入，丁利谷和爷爷农舍
间的森林变得雪白而陌生。
就像每一棵松树都成了一根我们
不认识的棕柱；就像白天被重新
安排进黑夜而蝙蝠在太阳下出动。
这把戏是：转一圈就知道你迷路；
就知道乌鸦的号角在黑暗里号哭，
就知道晚餐永远不会来，而海边
远处来的命的嚎叫摇响浮标的铃
说你的保姆已经不在。哦女士，
划艇震动。然后你就死了。
转一圈，闭紧眼，思想在脑中。

好先生：迷路且和你一样
我已经闭上眼睛转了两圈
树林是白的而我夜的心灵
看到如此奇事，没人讲过，也不真实。
睁眼时，我当然怕
看——社会嘲讽的这种内视——
我还在这些森林中寻找并且在葡萄
和荆棘间我发现没有什么比我更糟。

Kind Sir: This is an old game
that we played when we were eight and ten.
Sometimes on The Island, in down Maine,
in late August, when the cold fog blew in
off the ocean, the forest between Dingley Dell
and grandfather's cottage grew white and strange.
It was as if every pine tree were a brown pole
we did not know; as if day had rearranged
into night and bats flew in sun. It was a trick
to turn around once and know you were lost;
knowing the crow's horn was crying in the dark,
knowing that supper would never come, that the coast's
cry of doom from that far away bell buoy's bell
said
your nursemaid is gone
. O Mademoiselle,
the rowboat rocked over. Then you were dead.
Turn around once, eyes tight, the thought in your head.
Kind Sir: Lost and of your same kind
I have turned around twice with my eyes sealed
and the woods were white and my night mind
saw such strange happenings, untold and unreal.
And opening my eyes, I am afraid of course
to look-this inward look that society scorns-
Still, I search these woods and find nothing worse
than myself, caught between the grapes and the thorns.