The Moon Was A Fat Woman Once
They are always with us, the thin people
他们永远与我们同在,身材矮小的灰色人
Meager of dimension as the gray people
像灰色的人一样渺小
On a movie-screen. They are unreal, we say:
在电影屏幕上。它们是不真实的，我们说：
It was only in a movie, it was only in a war making evil headlines
那只是在一部电影里，只是在一场战争中成为邪恶的头条新闻
when we were small that they famished and grew so lean and
当我们还小的时候，他们非常饥饿，变得非常瘦弱
would not round out their stalky limbs again though peace
即使是在和平时期，它们也不会再次伸出粗壮的四肢
Plumped the bellies of the mice under the meanest table.
在最简陋的桌子下，老鼠们鼓足了肚子。
It was during the long hunger-battle
在漫长的饥饿斗争中
They found their talent to persevere
他们发现自己有坚持不懈的才能
In thinness, to come, later,
瘦弱的，以后再来
Into our bad dreams, their menace
进入我们的噩梦，他们的威胁
Not guns, not abuses,
不是枪，不是虐待，
But a thin silence.
只有微弱的沉默。
Wrapped in flea ridden donkey skins or bits of burlap,
带着满是跳蚤的驴皮或粗麻布
squatting together on granite steps where
一起蹲在花岗岩台阶上
the mica glinted at noonday like broken glass -- famous for their scantness.
云母在中午像碎玻璃一样闪闪发光，以其稀少而闻名。
Empty of complaint, forever drinking vinegar from tin cups:
没有怨言，永远用锡杯喝醋:
they wore the insufferable nimbus of the lot-drawn scapegoat.
他们戴着难以忍受的光环，就像抽签的替罪羊。
But so thin,
但是这么瘦，
So ****y a race could not remain in dreams,
所以一个种族不能停留在梦里，
Could not remain outlandish victims
不能成为古怪的受害者
In the contracted country of the head
在合同规定的国家
Any more than the old woman in her mud hut could
比那个住在泥屋里的老妇人所能做的还要多
Keep from cutting fat meat
不要切肥肉
Out of the side of the generous moon when it set foot nightly in her yard
当月亮每晚踏上她的院子时
Until her knife had pared the moon to a rind of little light.
直到她的刀把月亮削成一层微光。
Now the thin people do not obliterate themselves as the dawn
现在瘦弱的人不会像黎明一样毁灭自己
Grayness blues, reddens, and the outline of the world comes clear and fills with color.
灰色、蓝色、红色，世界的轮廓清晰而充满色彩。
They persist in the sunlit room: the wall paper
他们坚持在阳光明媚的房间里：墙纸
Frieze of cabbage-roses and cornflowers pales
卷心菜玫瑰和矢车菊的饰带苍白
Under their thin-lipped smiles,
在他们薄薄的微笑下，
Their withering kingship.
他们衰败的王位。
How they prop each other up!
他们是如何互相支撑的！
They outnumber us in the towns and cities.
在城镇里他们的人数超过了我们。
We own no wildernesses rich and deep enough
我们没有足够丰富和深厚的荒野
For stronghold against their stiff battalions.
作为据点对抗他们的硬汉营。
See, how the tree boles flatten
看，树干是怎么变平的
And lose their good browns
失去了他们的好脸蛋
If the thin people simply stand in the forest,
如果瘦弱的人只是站在森林里，
Making the world go thin as a wasp's nest and grayer;
让世界变得像蜂窝一样稀疏和灰白;
not even moving their bones.
甚至不动他们的骨头。