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Land lies in water; it is shadowed green.
Shadows, or are they shallows, at its edges
showing the line of long sea-weeded ledges
where weeds hang to the simple blue from green.
Or does the land lean down to lift the sea from under,
drawing it unperturbed around itself?
Along the fine tan sandy shelf
is the land tugging at the sea from under?
The shadow of Newfoundland lies flat and still.
Labrador 's yellow, where the moony Eskimo
has oiled it. We can stroke these lovely bays,
under a glass as if they were expected to blossom,
or as if to provide a clean cage for invisible fish.
The names of seashore towns run out to sea,
the names of cities cross the neighboring mountains
-- the printer here experiencing the same excitement
as when emotion too far exceeds its cause.
These peninsulas take the water between thumb and finger
Like women feeling for the smoothness of yard-goods.
Mapped waters are more quiet than the land is,
lending the land their waves' own conformations:
and Norway 's hare runs south is agi tat ion,
profiles investigate the sea, where lands is.
Are they assigned, or can the countries pick their colors?
-- What suits the character or the native waters best.
Topography displays no favorites; North's as near as West.
More delicate than the historians' are the map-maker's colors.
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〈地圖〉
陸地躺入海中；蓋上陰鬱的綠。
是陰影，或是淺灘，在陸塊邊緣
以將那條海草遍佈的暗礁突顯
水中的海草握緊了色階由淺藍到綠
亦或是陸地從下方將海洋舉起
將海水平穩的拉近？
在曬成褐色的沙灘附近
陸塊是否自下方將海水擁進懷裡？
紐芬蘭的殘影平穩地躺下。
專屬拉普羅陀的黃色調，由恍惚度日的愛斯基摩人
為它著上。我們輕撫這些嬌美海灣，
隔著水玻璃恰似它們真的就要綻放，
或如同替躲出視線的魚群找來潔淨的水族箱。
海濱之城的名字奔流出海，
城市的名號穿越鄰近山林
─印製者此時正經驗同等的悸動
正如情感遠遠溢出誘發的緣由。
半島們拾起海水
模擬女人對布匹細柔的感觸。
繪成地圖的海水遠比陸塊靜寂，
它們借給陸地波浪的特性：
因而挪威像野兔驚慌地向南逃命，
並側身用輪廓向海水商討陸塊的領地。
是受到指派，或者國家們有權選擇屬於自己的色彩？
─但什麼又是最能迎合它們與當地水域特質的展現。
地誌學向來毫無偏頗；北與南皆在咫尺之間。
比歷史學家還講究的是製圖者使用的色彩。
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