一首有趣的诗，关于土壤。

Soil (Irène P. Mathieu, Twitter @gumbo_amando)

the way you say soil sounds
like soul, as in

after we walked through the woods
my feet were covered in soul

when it rains
the soul turns to mud

the soul is made of decomposed
plants and animal matter;

edaphology is the study of the soul's
influence on living things

while pedology is the study of how
soul is formed, its particular granularity.

you are rooted in a certain red patch
of soul that bled you and your

hundred cousins to life, a slow
warm river you call home.

maybe there is soul under everything,
even when we strike rock first.

the way you say soil you make
a poem out of every speck of dirt.

浪游者的夜歌
（德国）歌德 钱春绮 译

群峰一片
沉寂，
树梢微风
敛迹。
林中栖鸟
缄默，
稍待你也
安息。

Wandrers Nachtlied II
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Über allen Gipfeln
Ist Ruh,
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest du
Kaum einen Hauch;
Die Vögelein schweigen in Walde.
Warte nur, balde
Ruhest du auch.

由于语言的特点不同，中文的翻译竟然比德语的还工整。中文的第2、4、8行押韵，从长句来看，像绝句的形式。不过，译者修改了原诗第5和6行，才达到了这样的效果。这个中文的译本，是n年以前读到的，印象深刻。

Little fly,

Thy summer's play

My thoughtless hand

Has brushed away.

Am not I

A fly like thee?

Or art not thou

A man like me?

For I dance

And drink and sing,

Till some blind hand

Shall brush my wing

-- Songs of Experience 'The Fly', Stanzas 1-3 (1795)