Five Tankas

Harryette Mullen

Walking along the green path with buds

in my ears, too engrossed in（埋头于，热衷于） the morning news

to listen to the stillness of the garden.

Don't need picket fences（尖桩篱栅）, brick wall,

or razor wire. Our home's protected by

prickly pear cactus（仙人掌） and thorny bougainvillea（叶子花属）.

My reckless shadow, landing on the twelve-lane

freeway down below this pedestrian bridge,

playing chicken with oncoming cars.

Clicking through images downloaded

from your camera. Those buskers（街头艺人） haven't finished

playing, and already they're in your archive.

In a few billion years Andromeda Galaxy

will collide with our Milky Way, but worlds

come to an end every day.