All that city. You just couldn't see the end to it. The end? Please? You please just show me where it ends? It was all very fine on that gangway. And I was grand too, in my overcoat. I cut quite a figure. And I was getting off. Guaranteed. There was no problem. It wasn't what I saw that stopped me, Max. It was what I didn't see. You understand that? What I didn't see. In all that sprawling city there was everything except an end. There was no end. What I did not see was where the whole thing came to an end. The end of the world...
Take a piano. The keys begin, the keys end. You know there are eightyeight of them, nobody can tell you any different. They are not infinite. You are infinite. And on these keys the music that you can make is infinite. I like that. That I can live by.
You get me up on that gangway and you're rolling out in front of me a keyboard of millions of keys, millions and billions of keys that never end, and that's the truth, Max. That they never end. That keyboard is infinite. And if that keyboard is infinite, then on that keyboard there is no music you can play. You're sitting on the wrong bench. That's God's piano.
Christ! Did, did you see the streets? Just the streets… There were thousands of them! And how do you do it down there? How do you choose just one? One woman, one house, one piece of land to call your own, one landscape to look at, one way to die...
All that world is weighing down on me, you don't even know where it comes to an end, and aren't you ever just scared of breaking apart at the thought of it? The enormity of living it?
I was born on this ship, and the world passed me by, but two thousand people at a time. And there were wishes here, but never more than fit between prow and stern. You played out your happiness, but on a piano that was not infinite. I learned to live that way.
Land? Land is a ship too big for me. It's a woman too beautiful; it's a voyage too long, a perfume too strong. It's a music I don't know how to make. I could never get off this ship. At best, I can step off my life. After all, I don't exist for anyone. You're an exception, Max, you're the only one who knows I'm here. You're a minority, and you better get used to it. Forgive me, my friend, but I'm not getting off.
译文：
所有那些城市，你就是无法看见尽头。尽头？拜托！拜托你给我看它的尽头在哪？当时，站在舷梯向外看还好。我那时穿着大衣，感觉也很棒，觉得自己前途无量，然后我就要下船去。放心！完全没问题！可是，阻止了我的脚步的，并不是我所看见的东西，而是我所无法看见的那些东西。你明白么？我看不见的那些。在那个无限蔓延的城市里，什么东西都有，可惟独没有尽头。根本就没有尽头。我看不见的是这一切的尽头，世界的尽头。
拿一部钢琴来说，从琴键开始，又结束。你知道钢琴只有88个键，随便什么琴都没差。它们不是无限的。你才是无限的，在琴键上制作出的音乐是无限的。我喜欢这样，我活的惯。
你把我推到舷梯上然后扔给我一架有百万琴键的钢琴，百万千万的没有尽头的琴键，那是事实，max，它们没有尽头。那键盘是无限延伸的。然而如果琴键是无限的，那么在那架琴上就没有你能弹奏的音乐，你坐错了地方，那是上帝的钢琴。
天啊！你……你看过那些街道吗？仅仅是街道，就有上千条！你下去该怎么办？你怎么选择其中一条来走？怎么选择“属于你自己的”一个女人，一栋房子，一块地，或者选择一道风景欣赏，选择一种方法死去。
那个世界好重，压在我身上。你甚至不知道它在哪里结束，你难道从来不为自己生活在无穷选择里而害怕得快崩溃掉吗？
我是在这艘船上出生的，整个世界跟我并肩而行，但是，行走一次只携带两千人。这里也有欲望，但不会虚妄到超出船头和船尾。你用钢琴表达你的快乐，但音符不是无限的。我已经习惯这么生活。
陆地？陆地对我来说是一艘太大的船，一个太漂亮的女人，一段太长的旅行，一瓶太刺鼻的香水，一种我不会创作的音乐。我永远无法放弃这艘船，不过幸好，我可以放弃我的生命。反正没人记得我存在过，而你是例外，max，你是唯一一个知道我在这里的人。你是唯一一个，而且你最好习惯如此。原谅我，朋友，我不会下船的。
