Insomnia / 睡不著

Insomnia by Elizabeth Bishop

The moon in the bureau mirror
looks out a million miles
(and perhaps with pride, at herself,
but she never, never smiles)
far and away beyond sleep, or
perhaps she’s a daytime sleeper.

By the Universe deserted,
she’d tell it to go to hell,
and she’d find a body of water,
or a mirror, on which to dwell.
So wrap up care in a cobweb
and drop it down the well

into that world inverted
where left is always right
where the shadows are really the body,
where we stay awake all night,
where the heavens are shallow as the sea
is now deep, and you love me.



The reason for insomnia should be the inversion of “you love me.” It’s actually “I love you.”



睡不著 伊莉莎白畢夏普

梳妝台鏡子裡的月亮
望著鏡外一百萬英哩遠之處
(也許充滿自豪地看著自己)
離睡眠好遠，或者
也許她白天睡太多。

被宇宙拋棄，
她叫它下地獄，
然後她找到一攤水，
或一面鏡子，停駐之上。
所以把你的憂慮收好放在蜘蛛網裡，
往井裡一丟

掉進那反過來的世界
那裡左邊變成了右邊
那裡影子才是主體
那裡我們整夜不睡覺
那裡天堂和海一樣深
而你愛我。



所以睡不著的原因要反過來，是因為我愛你。