Monsoon History

The air is wet, soaks 空气湿，渗透入
Into mattresses, and curls 床单，冉冉升起
In apparitions of smoke. 不平常的烟 （水蒸气像烟般升起）
Like fat white slugs furled 像肥的鼻涕虫卷起来
Among the timber,在木材中
Or silver fish tunneling 或掘….地道
The damp linen covers 那潮湿的亚麻布封面
Of school books, or walking 学校的书，或走
Quietly like centipedes,得像蜈蚣般安静
The air walking everywhere 空气到处走(潮湿的空气多)
On its hundred feet以它的百腿
Is filled with the glare充满着眩目的光
Of tropical water 热带的水 （下雨了，太阳的光反射在雨点上）

Again we are taken over 我们又一次的被…..接管
By clouds and rolling darkness 由云及隆隆声的黑暗
Small snails appear小蜗牛出现了
Clashing their timid horns撞击着它们胆小的触角
Among the morning glory救在牵牛花当中
Vines

Drinking Milo,喝着MILO
Nyonya and Baba sit at home. Nyonya 和 Baba在家里
This was forty Years ago.这是四十年前的事了
Sarong-wrapped they counted包着围裙他们数着
Silver paper for the dead.金银纸给以过身的人
Portraits of grandfathers组父亲的肖像
Hung always in the parlour.一直都挂在客厅（以前用语）

Reading Tennyson, at six 六点钟傍晚读着坦尼森的书
p.m. in pyjamas 穿着睡衣
Listening to down-pouring 听着雨声
Rain: the air ticks 空气中滴着
With gnats, black spiders fly小昆虫的声音，黑蜘蛛飞
Moths sweep out of our rooms 蛾大模大样地离开我们的房间
Where termites built 白蚁建着它们的窝
Their hills of eggs and queens zoom蚁后的数量急升
In heat. We wash our feet我们把脚洗了
For bed, watch mother uncoil才上床，看妈妈解开
Her snake hair, unbuckle她的卷发，解开
The silver mesh around her waist,她腰间的银网丝
Waiting for father pacing等着在沙滩上踱步的父亲
The sand as fishers pull当渔夫划桨
From the Straits after monsoon.从海峡在季候风之后
The air is still, silent 空气是寂静的
Like sleepers rocked in the pantun,像被朗诵诗歌轻摇入睡的人
Sheltered by Malacca.在马六甲的一间屋檐下
This was forty years ago, 这是四十年前的事了
When nyonya married baba当nyonya 与 baba结婚时

Parlour

In the late nineteenth century, it was often a formal room used only on Sundays or special occasions, and closed during the week. The parlour contained a family's best furnishings, works of art and other display items. The body of a recently deceased member of the household would be laid out in the parlour while funeral preparations were made. In more modest homes, the parlour has largely been replaced by the living room as a result of a twentieth-century effort by architects and builders to strip the parlour of its burial and mourning associations.