译者按：瑞典学院今天宣布：美国女诗人露易丝·格丽克荣获2020年诺贝尔文学奖，“因为她具有朴素美的清晰无误诗声使得个人存在普世化。”
我要告诉你这件事：每一天
人们都在死。而这仅仅是开始。
每一天，殡仪馆里岀生新寡妇，
新孤儿。他们端坐，双手合十，
试图决定这种新的生活方式。
然后他们进入墓园，他们有些人
还是首次。他们惊惧哭喊，
有时惊惧不哭。有人倾过身，
告诉他们下步做什么，可能意味着
要说点只言片语，有时候
要把泥土抛入敞口墓坑。
而那之后，每个人都返回那房屋，
突然那屋里充满访客。
那寡妇坐在长沙发上，非常庄重，
于是人们列队走近她，
有时握她手，有时拥抱她。
她也找点话向每人说说，
感谢他们，感谢他们到来。
在她心里，她想要他们离开。
她想要返回到那墓园，
回到那病房里，那医院。她知道
这不可能。但这是她唯一的希望，
要倒回去的祈愿。且只回一丁点，
并非那么远到结婚，远到那初吻。
（张裕 译于2020年10月3日）
A Fantasy
By Louise Glück
I’ll tell you something: every day
people are dying. And that’s just the beginning.
Every day, in funeral homes, new widows are born,
new orphans. They sit with their hands folded,
trying to decide about this new life.
Then they’re in the cemetery, some of them
for the first time. They’re frightened of crying,
sometimes of not crying. Someone leans over,
tells them what to do next, which might mean
saying a few words, sometimes
throwing dirt in the open grave.
And after that, everyone goes back to the house,
which is suddenly full of visitors.
The widow sits on the couch, very stately,
so people line up to approach her,
sometimes take her hand, sometimes embrace her.
She finds something to say to everbody,
thanks them, thanks them for coming.
In her heart, she wants them to go away.
She wants to be back in the cemetery,
back in the sickroom, the hospital. She knows
it isn’t possible. But it’s her only hope,
the wish to move backward. And just a little,
not so far as the marriage, the first kiss.