John Ashbery - Drunken Americans 汉译

I saw the reflection in the mirror<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

And it doesn’t count, or not enough

To make a difference, fabricating itself

Out of the old, average light of a college town,

And afterwards, when the bus trip

Had depleted my pocket of its few pennies

He was seen arguing behind steamed glass,

With an invisible proprietor. What if you can’t own

This one either? For it seems that all

Moments are like this: thin, unsatisfactory

As gruel, worn away more each time you return to them.

Until one day you rip the canvas from its frame

And take it home with you. You think the god-given

Assertiveness in you has triumphed

Over the stingy scenario: these objects are real as meat,

As tears. We are all soiled with this desire, at the last moment, the last.

                                                    1981