星期六早晨池塘裏滿是孩子。
他們的父母想讓他們學點怪誕的東西：
不只是踩水，
而是走著穿過它，易如他們在家中
從一個房間跑到另一個房間。自然而然地
水上漂的奇跡讓他們中的一些逃之夭夭；

然而，信仰者，信心看漲，
屏住呼吸從這邊推水而出。
臉朝下，張開手臂，這些受到祝福的人
滑得像優美掠過的天使，
然後當他們上氣不接下氣的
濺到成功時，突然裂開
凍得發紫的嘴唇笑
他們快樂地抱在一起。

同時，少數人依附在墻上
看著他們自己號碼退縮。愧不如人，難受，
懷疑讓他們到這兒受罪的父母，
他們開始明白事情的安排：每個人
都可以轉身離開他們是多麽容易啊
當他們不屈服時，個人信念是多麽寂寞啊。

Saturday morning the pool fills
with children. Their parents
want them to learn something
preposterous: not just to tread water,
but to move through it as easily as they run
at home from one room to another. Naturally
the miracle of flotation escapes some of them;

however, the believers, buoyant in their faith,
hold their breath and push away from the side.
Face down, arms outstretched, these blessed ones
glide like angels in a fleeting state of grace,
then pop up grinning when they run out of air.
Splashed with success, they hug themselves
happily in the blue-lipped chill.

Meanwhile, the few still clinging to the wall
watch their own number shrink. Small, miserable,
suspicious of their parents for making them
suffer here, they begin to see the arrangement
of things: how easily everyone can turn
away from them when they don’t give in,
how lonely a personal conviction is.