Climate Fate 气候·命运

By Kamala E
Translation by Christie Dai

I was sitting in the waiting room when you flashed across the screen
我坐在候诊室里，你闪现在银屏 A heatwave smothered India and you were on the screen 热浪吞噬着印度，你出现在屏幕 As you tried to cross the street, your shoe stuck to the road 你想要穿过那条街，路面却粘住了你的鞋 So you ran on scorched bare feet, as the black tar slowly flowed 你只好光着烧伤的脚，跑过已熔化的黑柏油 Where there once were straight white lines, a crazy pattern morphed and swirled 原来笔直的白线，呈现出疯狂的弧度 As if a giant with a paintbrush splashed out and dwarfed the world 有如怪兽用大刷子胡乱泼墨，将世界一番蹂躏 You long for cooling rain, but the monsoon will be late 你渴求雨水的洗去热浪，但雨季却姗姗来迟 And this is how some people face their climate fate 这就是有些人面对的气候带来的命运 You're a woman of Maharashtra: farm life is what you know 你是马哈拉族女子，一辈子都在田地里打滚 With the earth so cracked and bare, nothing green can grow 大地变得如此干涸贫瘠，无一物能生长 As the debt piles up for the chemicals and seed 种子和农药令你举债重重 As you wonder how to fill the many mouths you have to feed 你也为那一张张嗷嗷待哺的嘴而忧愁 As you turn to your husband to say somehow you will cope 你望向他，跟他说我能行的 You see in his eyes there's no room for hope 你注视着他的双眼，希望却已然泯灭 Your nightmare just gets worse, the day you lose your mate 噩梦延续，那天你终于失去了他 And this is how some people face their climate fate 这就是有些人面对的气候带来的命运 You've lived in Karachi all of your life 你一辈子都在卡拉奇 There with your kids, your parents, your wife 与孩子、父母和妻 Last year the heatwave rolled in and swept a thousand lives away 去年热浪来袭，上千条生命被掳去 Overwhelmed the morgue, corpses left out to decay 连陈尸的当所也满患，只能任其腐烂 This time you swear you will be ready and not have to face that smell 你说这次准备好了，一定不会再有那味道 Of those left to rot in the very place they fell 那些倒下便就地腐烂的身体 So you dig out mass graves and pray for rain while you wait 于是你挖了大坑，等待祈求降雨 And this is how some people face their climate fate 这就是有些人面对的气候带来的命运 When Sandy struck New York, you'd left for somewhere calm 龙卷风珊迪席卷纽约时，你选择风平浪静之地 Flew back when it was over, once you knew you'd meet no harm 她走了你再回来，一旦知道风险已过 Another super-storm to hit won't be so inconvenient 再一波来袭也不无妨 Even if next time, Mother Nature is less lenient 就算下次，甚至比这次更猛 For you've bought yourself a condo with rooms sealed water-tight 因为你买了防风抗雨的高档寓所 Floodgates, pumps, power and emergency light 一应俱全的防洪设施 So you gamble on oil stocks, knowing you'll be all right mate 所以你继续哄炒着燃油股票，明白自己的生活不坏 And this is how some people face their climate fate 这也是有些人面对的气候带来的命运