BY Li-Young Lee
She begins, and my grandmother joins her.
Mother and daughter sing like young girls.
If my father were alive, he would play
his accordion and sway like a boat.
I’ve never been in Peking, or the Summer Palace,
nor stood on the great Stone Boat to watch
the rain begin on Kuen Ming Lake, the picnickers
running away in the grass.
But I love to hear it sung;
how the waterlilies fill with rain until
they overturn, spilling water into water,
then rock back, and fill with more.
Both women have begun to cry.
But neither stops her song.
Poem copyright by Li-Young Lee
我請母親唱歌
李立揚 (美) 朱峰 譯
她開始唱，我的外婆也跟著唱。
母女倆唱起歌來像年輕的姑娘。
要是父親還在，他會拉起
他的手風琴，搖晃得像只船。
我從未去過北平，沒到過頤和園
也從未站在大石舫上觀看
昆明湖上下起了雨，野餐的人
從草地上跑開。
可我喜歡聽那歌唱；
荷葉上是怎樣注滿了水直到
倾覆，把雨水倒進湖水里，
然後彈回來，注更多的水。
兩個女人開始啜泣。
卻都沒有停止歌唱。