Dramatist and poet Nelly Sachs was born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 1891. In 1940, she and her mother escaped to Sweden to avoid Nazi persecution. Her collections of poetry include In the Houses of Death (1946), Eclipse of Stars (1949), and Flight and Metamorphosis (1959). In 1966, Sachs and novelist Shmuel Agnon received the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in 1970.

奈莉-萨克斯，剧作家与诗人，1891年生于柏林的一个犹太人家庭。1940年，为逃避纳粹迫害，她和母亲逃到瑞典并定居。她出版的诗集有：《在死亡的住所》（1946），《星之暗蚀》（1949），《逃亡与变形》（1959）等。1966年萨克斯与以色列小说家阿格侬同获诺贝尔文学奖。萨克斯于1970年去世。

冯冬，1979年生于重庆，南京大学英文系博士毕业，现任教于暨南大学，译有《未来是一只灰色海鸥：西尔维娅-普拉斯诗全集》（2013）、小说《蛛网与磐石》（2011）、游记《中华帝国纪行》（2006）等，在海内外诗刊发表作品，与友合著诗集《残酷的乌鸦》（2011），主要研究诗歌、精神分析和当代哲学。

Peter Feng was born in Chongqing, China, in 1979. He has received a Ph.D degree in literature from Nanjing University and currently teaches English at Jinan University. He has translated The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath (2013), The Web and the Rock (2011), A Journey through the Chinese Empire (2006), and co-written a book of poems: Cruel Raven (2011). His study includes poetry, psychoanalysis, and contemporary philosophy.

When the Day Grows Empty

当日子变空

When the day grows empty
at dusk
when the imageless time begins,
the lonely voices combine—
the animals are not hunters anymore
or the hunted
the flowers mere fragrance—
when everything becomes nameless as at
the beginning—
then you go beneath the catacombs of time,
that open for those nearing the end—
there where the heart-seeds grow—
down into dark inwardness
you sink—
already past death
that is only a windy passage— 
and freezing with exit
strike open your eyes
in which a new star
already has left its reflection—
			

当日子变空
在那黄昏，
当无意象的时间开始，
孤独的声音聚在一起——
野兽不再是猎人
或被猎的——
花朵纯粹是香气——
当一切变得无名如开始时——
你下行入时间的地墓
它为临近终点的人打开
心的种子生长于此——
你沉入
幽暗的内部——
死亡擦肩而过
那不过是一条刮风的过道——
在冰冻的出口
击开你的双眼，
一颗新星已在里面
留下它的反光——