蝙蝠

（克劳迪娅·爱默生/作，张文武/译）

不知道是什么弄醒了我们——仅仅是活动着的
　　某种东西，比我们的呼吸还轻。这个世界
　　　　被一根冰凉的带子绑着，我们的房子

对这只蝙蝠而言，是一个更温暖的空洞穴，
　　所以现在它不愿离开了。我尖叫起来，
　　　　让你做点儿什么。于是你杀了它，

用那只扫帚；你在空中挥舞扫帚时，我听见
　　你在诅咒。我原本希望你这样做，直到
　　　　你真的这么做了。我决不能原谅你。

The Bat

We didn't know what woke us—just something
           moving, lighter than our breathing. The world
                      bound by an icy ligature, our house

was to the bat a hollow, warmer cavity
           that now it could not leave. I screamed
                      for you to do something. So you killed it

with the broom; I heard you curse as you
           swept the air. I wanted you to do it until
                      you did. I have never forgiven you.  

CLAUDIA EMERSON

Claudia Emerson's poems have appeared in Poetry, The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, TriQuarterly, Crazyhorse, New England Review, and other journals. Her books of poems, Pharaoh, Pharaoh (1997) and Pinion, An Elegy (2002) were published as part of Louisiana State University Press's signature series, Southern Messenger Poets. Emerson has been awarded individual artist's fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. She earned her BA from the University of Virginia and her MFA at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she was poetry editor for The Greensboro Review. She is Associate Professor of English at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia.