Untitled 无题 by Bruce Dethlefsen

Untitled
by Bruce Dethlefsen

what would I write
if I had only
four or five lines worth
of ink or time left?

how we children were put down
around eight o-clock in the bedroom nearby
with a crack of light from the open door
so the grownups could smoke play cards and talk

how I walked my sweetheart home
from eighth grade on that orange afternoon
carried her books from school
and she said the word marriage

how perfect the rainbow of the ball
my triple during
the all-star game
with my father there

how I heard the first cries of my baby
little bundle wrapped
in that thin pale yellow flannel blanket
in my arms against my chest

what would I write?
would I drop an anonymous note to jesus?

would I beg you
to remember to keep
this untitled green and blue
world of ours?

really what would I write
if I had only
four or five lines worth
of ink or time left?

无题

我要写什么呢
如果我只剩下
写四五行的
笔墨和时间？

我们孩子如何八点钟左右
去附近的卧室上床睡觉
开着的门射进一线光亮
所以成人可以吸烟打牌聊天？

从八年级起
我如何陪我的情人
在橘黄的下午步行回家
替她拿着学校的书
而她提到结婚这个字？

多么完美的彩虹形球
这是我在全星比赛中
的第三个球
父亲也在那？

我如何听到我的孩子第一声哭叫
包裹在
薄薄的浅黄色法兰绒被里
抱在我的手臂贴在我胸前？

我要写什么？
给耶稣留一个匿名的字条？

我会请求你
记着保留住
我们这一无名的蓝绿色
世界？

真的，我要写什么呢
如果我只剩下
写四五行的
笔墨和时间？


from Breather. © Fireweed Press, 2009.
poet and musician, is Wisconsin\'s fourth Poet Laureate
Wisconsin Poet Laureate 2010–2012
"if a novel is winter, and a short story is a snow storm, then a poem is a snowball, squeezed."

6/25/2011