Elegy

Vijay Seshadri

I've been asked to instruct you about the town you've gone to, 

 where I've never been. 

 The cathedral is worth looking at, 

 but the streets are narrow, uneven（不平坦的）, and a little grim. 

 The river is sluggish（萧条的） in the summer and muddy in the spring. 

 The cottage industries are obsolete（废弃的）. 

 The population numbers one. 

The population numbers one fugitive 

 who slips into the shadows and haunts the belfries（钟楼）. 

 His half-eaten meals are cold on the empty café tables. 

 His page of unsolved equations is blowing down the cobblestones（鹅卵石）. 

 His death was so unjust that he can't forgive himself.

 He waits for his life to catch up to him. 

He is you and you and you. 

 You will look to him for your expiation, 

 face him in the revolving door, sit with him in the plaza 

 and soothe his fears and sympathize with his story 

 and accustom him to the overwhelming sun 

 until his death becomes your death. 

 You will restore his confiscated minutes to him one by one.