俚优

Tear

BY LINDA HOGAN

It was the time before

I was born.

I was thin.

I was hungry. I was

only a restlessness inside a woman’s body.

 

Above us, lightning split open the sky.

Below us, wagon wheels cut land in two.

Around us were the soldiers,

young and afraid,

who did not trust us

with scissors or knives

but with needles.

 

Tear dresses they were called

because settler cotton was torn

in straight lines

like the roads we had to follow

to Oklahoma.

 

But when the cloth was torn,

it was like tears,

impossible to hold back,

and so they were called

by this other name,

for our weeping.

 

I remember the women.

Tonight they walk

out from the shadows

with black dogs,

children, the dark heavy horses,

and worn-out men.

 

They walk inside me. This blood

is a map of the road between us.

I am why they survived.

The world behind them did not close.

The world before them is still open.

All around me are my ancestors,

my unborn children.

I am the tear between them

and both sides live.

——————————

泪

琳达·霍刚

是在我

出生以前的年代。

我瘦削。

我饥饿。我只是

一个女人体内的一场不安

在我们之上，闪电劈开天空。

在我们之下，马车轮将大地切割。

在我们周围，是士兵们，

年轻而惊惧，

不信任我们

身备剪或刀

但只备着针。

泪裙，它们被如此称呼

因为迁徙者的棉絮被

撕扯成直线

像那我们不得不遵循的

通往俄克拉何马的路

但当那衣服被撕开

它就像眼泪一样，

无法被憋忍回来，

因此它们被以

这个别名称呼，

为了我们的哭诉。

我记得那些女人。

今夜她们从

暗影中走出

与黑狗们，

孩子们，渊黑的马们，

和衣衫褴褛的男人们。

他们走进我。这血缘

是我们之前脉络的地图。

我是他们幸存的缘由。

他们之后的世界并未关上。

他们之先的世界仍旧敞开。

我周围的所有都是我的祖先，

我未出生的孩子们。

我是他们之间的泪

且尽都存活。

译：俚优

注释：图为作者所说的Cherokee Tear Dress，为切罗基女性传统正装。作者琳达·霍刚是Chickasaw奇克索（北美印第安部落）人。印第安人大迁徙后，多数奇克索人现居住在美国俄克拉何马州保留地。