The Dream House

∷于琰 譯析

For ten years I dreamt of the same house:

until I knew every corridor and cornice, the grain1. cornice: 飛檐，檐板；grain：紋理。

of the wood in every board, the way light fell

in different rooms at different times of day. Its lines

and angles grew more perfect, dream by dream.

This summer, walking in woods near a town

I’d never been before, I came to this familiar gate

and beyond that saw a path I recognised.

And there it was, with a sign FOR SALE,

among larch and pine and sycamore:2. larch: 落葉松；pine: 松樹；sycamore: 美國梧桐。the dream house.

I rang the bell, and when the owner came

I asked him if he’d think it very strange

if I showed him round. To the left, I explained,

is the lounge and panelled library;3. lounge: 起居室，休息廳；panelled library: 四壁鑲嵌有木板裝飾的書房。to the right

the long dining room with the kitchen beyond.

As we went upstairs to the four bedrooms

with their broad bay windows and blue drapes,4. bay window: （突出墻外）的凸窗；drape: 呈褶裥狀的布簾。

I was stopped, dead, on the landing

by a small red door I’d never seen before.

It was new, he said, and just put in that day.

Downstairs, I asked him what he wanted for the house.

He named a price so low I think I showed my surprise,

but said I’d take it. Then he told me why it was cheap:

because it was haunted. But said I shouldn’t mind—

it would be fine for me—since I was the ghost.

That was a month ago, and now I have the keys.

I explore, knowing each room like my own body,

until I remember the tiny red door.

The keys are all too big, except for one

the size of a sparrow’s claw. I kneel down

and open the lock. And there, in the darkness,

is a miniature house. Through the windows,

in behind the walls, I see my son is safe indoors.

How little he’s grown. Look at him!

The boy I dreamt had died ten years before.