从欢呼到欢乐，从欢乐到所有，我拿了一盒把它加到我的野米里，加到我的康沃尔野鸡里。那些懒散的或矮小的，带着篮子的，相同的觅食群是我所忽视的自我。威廉·詹姆斯说过，智慧就是学会忽略什么。我是有智慧的，如果那是智慧的话。然而，当我从这些架子上买完所有的东西，男孩把它们带到我的旅行车上时，我变成了什么样子，即使我闭上眼睛也困扰着我。当我年轻、痛苦、漂亮、贫穷时，我希望和所有女孩一样:有个丈夫、房子和孩子。现在我老了，我的愿望很女人:那个往我车里放东西的男孩看见我。他没看见我，真叫我迷惑。这么多年来，我吃得饱饱的，世人看着我，垂涎欲滴。外人的眼目，多少次使我赤身露体。 And, holding their flesh within my flesh, their vile Imaginings within my imagining, I too have taken The chance of life. Now the boy pats my dog And we start home. Now I am good. The last mistaken, Ecstatic, accidental bliss, the blind Happiness that, bursting, leaves upon the palm Some soap and water-- It was so long ago, back in some Gay Twenties, Nineties, I don't know . . . Today I miss My lovely daughter Away at school, my sons away at school, My husband away at work--I wish for them. The dog, the maid, And I go through the sure unvarying days At home in them. As I look at my life, I am afraid Only that it will change, as I am changing: I am afraid, this morning, of my face. It looks at me From the rear-view mirror, with the eyes I hate, The smile I hate. Its plain, lined look Of gray discovery Repeats to me: "You're old." That's all, I'm old. And yet I'm afraid, as I was at the funeral I went to yesterday. My friend's cold made-up face, granite among its flowers, Her undressed, operated-on, dressed body Were my face and body. As I think of her and I hear her telling me How young I seem; I am exceptional; I think of all I have. But really no one is exceptional, No one has anything, I'm anybody, I stand beside my grave Confused with my life, that is commonplace and solitary.