for my sister

I’m sorry you were born
on October 31, sorry
if I paid more attention that day
to Halloween than to you
each year when we were young.

But maybe you imagined all the children
excited on the streets that night
dressed in their deadly little costumes
were celebrating your birthday.

The night you were born,
a month after our father died,
the scariest skeleton
was the one in his grave,
and our house the most haunted.

至吾妹

抱歉你生於十月卅一日
對不起
如果幼時的我對每年的萬聖節前夕
比對你較關注

然而你或許想象那晚街上興奮的小孩
身穿致命的小節慶服
是在慶祝你的生日

你出世的那晚
是咱們父親過世的月祭
那最可怕的骷顱頭
是他墳裡的那副
而咱們家則是最陰森之處