Befall

降臨

Under the Sassafras tree shade, I stand

我站在黃樟樹底下

Its handy leaves wave to me in the breeze

樹葉在微風中向我揮著手

Reddish bark with furrowed trunk

紅色的樹皮與充滿皺褶的樹幹

I touch its rough tough bark

我伸手摸它粗糙的樹皮

As I watch an ant crawl in a crevice

同時看著一隻螞蟻爬向皺摺裡

I see this scene and I ponder

我看得想得入神

When yellow leaf falls upon my head

當黃色的樹葉掉在我的頭上

I reach and touch its smooth thin plane

我伸手摸它平滑又薄的表面

Before returning it to its journey

在它回到它的旅途之前

Then another leaf makes a drop

另一片樹葉又落下

Missing me this time by just a hair

只差一點就掉在我身上

What chances we take- one and all!

我們抓住的機會 – 不論是一次或全部!

Before the next leaf makes its fall

能在下一片樹葉落下前

Paul M. Beck

September 2015

Chinese Translation by Tiffany Liao,  July 2016