A Man Young and Old
|
一個男人的青春與暮年
|
I |
一 |
First Love
|
初戀
|
Though nurtured like the sailing moon |
是美色的孕育, |
In beauty's murderous brood, |
她美如滑行的月亮, |
She walked awhile and blushed awhile |
在我的小徑上漫步, |
And on my pathway stood |
臉上時而泛起紅暈, |
Until I thought her body bore |
我曾以為她的胸口里 |
A heart of flesh and blood. |
藏著一顆血肉的心。 |
But since I laid a hand thereon |
但我伸手過去,卻發(fā)現(xiàn) |
And found a heart of stone |
她的心有如石鑄,從此 |
I have attempted many things, |
我的一切事情 |
And not a thing is done, |
再不順?biāo)欤驗(yàn)?/td>
|
For every hand is lunatic |
若伸手在月亮上摸索, |
That travels on the moon. |
定是神經(jīng)出了問題。 |
She smiled and that transfigured me |
她的微笑改變了我的面容, |
And left me but a lout, |
自她去后,我如戲中的丑角, |
Maundering here, and maundering there, |
來回踱步, |
Emptier of thought |
內(nèi)心荒蕪, |
Than the heavenly circuit of its stars |
還不如群星在天上的軌跡 自月亮離開之后。 |
Ⅱ |
二 |
Human Dignity
|
人的尊嚴(yán)
|
Like the moon her kindness is, |
她的好意就像那月亮, |
If kindness I may call |
若我可以 |
What has no comprehension in't, |
把其中捉摸不透的、而對所有人 |
But is the same for all |
都一樣的東西稱作好意, |
As though my sorrow were a scene |
好像我的憂傷只是一個劇中場景, |
Upon a painted wall. |
襯著身后裝飾過的墻壁。 |
So like a bit of stone I lie |
于是我躺倒,像一塊石頭 |
Under a broken tree. |
躺倒在枯樹下邊。 |
I could recover if I shrieked |
若能 |
My heart's agony |
把心中痛苦向著 |
To passing bird, but I am dumb |
掠過的鳥兒嘶喊, |
From human dignity. |
或許我才能平復(fù)一些,但我無言, |
When the moon sails out. |
出于人的尊嚴(yán)。 |
Ⅲ |
三 |
The Mermaid
|
美人魚
|
A mermaid found a swimming lad, |
美人魚發(fā)現(xiàn)一位游水的少年, |
Picked him for her own, |
便捉他來,做自己的情郎, |
Pressed her body to his body, |
緊緊擁抱著他的身體, |
Laughed;and plunging down |
恣意地笑著,潛入水底; |
Forgot in cruel happiness |
卻忘記了啊,在殘忍的歡娛里, |
That even lovers drown. |
便是有情人也會溺斃。 |
Ⅳ |
四 |
The Death of the Hare
|
野兔之死
|
I have pointed out the yelling pack, |
我指出那狂吠的犬群所在, |
The hare leap to the wood, |
好讓野兔跳入樹林, |
And when I pass a compliment |
當(dāng)我對那低垂的眼眸致意時, |
Rejoice as lover should |
對那漲紅的臉兒致意時, |
At the drooping of an eye, |
便有了戀人的歡愉。 |
At the mantling of the blood. |
|
Then suddenly my heart is wrung |
突然間,我心絞痛, |
By her distracted air |
因她失神的容顏, |
And I remember wildness lost |
遂憶起那野性早失, |
And after, swept from there, |
便被推離,我站在 |
Am set down standing in the wood |
那片樹林里, |
At the death of the hare. |
站在那野兔死去的地方。 |
V |
五 |
The Empty Cup
|
空杯
|
A crazy man that found a cup, |
瘋子找到了一只杯子, |
When all but dead of thirst, |
在焦渴的時候 |
Hardly dared to wet his mouth |
卻不敢沾唇, |
Imagining, moon-accursed, |
心在迷亂,怕著 |
That another mouthful |
若喝上一口, |
And his beating heart would burst. |
那狂跳的心就會爆裂。 |
October last I found it too |
去年十月我找到了那只杯子, |
But found it dry as bone, |
卻發(fā)現(xiàn)它已是一只空杯, |
And for that reason am I crazed |
我因此而瘋癲, |
And my sleep is gone. |
因此而疏遠(yuǎn)了睡眠。 |
VI |
六 |
His Memories
|
他的回憶
|
We should be hidden from their eyes, |
我們應(yīng)該遠(yuǎn)離他們的目光, |
Being but holy shows |
只如圣靈般出現(xiàn), |
And bodies broken like a thorn |
身軀碎裂如荊棘, |
Whereon the bleak north blows, |
任由凜冽的北風(fēng)吹打, |
To think of buried Hector |
想想已死的赫克托爾吧,他的名字 |
And that none living knows. |
如今已再無人知。 |
The women take so little stock |
我的所言所行 |
In what I do or say |
女人們并不關(guān)注, |
They'd sooner leave their cosseting |
她們寧可離座 |
To hear a jackass bray; |
去聽驢子的歌聲, |
My arms are like the twisted thorn |
而我那荊棘般的手臂, |
And yet there beauty lay; |
也曾有位美人枕過。 |
The first of all the tribe lay there |
那是整個部落里最美的人兒, |
And did such pleasure take— |
與我歡愉—— |
She who had brought great Hector down |
她曾使偉大的赫克托爾威風(fēng)掃地, |
And put all Troy to wreck— |
還毀滅了一座特洛伊, |
That she cried into this ear, |
而她,“若我尖叫就再用力些吧,” |
‘Strike me if I shriek.' |
——曾在我耳邊這樣私語。 |
VII |
七 |
The Friends of His Youth
|
他青年時代的朋友們
|
Laughter not time destroyed my voice |
是笑聲而非時光 |
And put that crack in it, |
沙啞了我的聲音, |
And when the moon's pot-bellied |
每到月圓的時候 |
I get a laughing fit, |
我陷入笑的痙攣, |
For that old Madge comes down the lane, |
因老梅吉從小巷走來, |
A stone upon her breast, |
抱著一塊石頭, |
And a cloak wrapped about the stone, |
一塊裹了斗篷的石頭, |
And she can get no rest |
她嘴里喃喃著不停, |
With singing hush and hush-a-bye; |
唱著催眠的歌兒, |
She that has been wild |
她曾狂野過,如今 |
And barren as a breaking wave |
卻如碎裂的浪花,無力生育 |
Thinks that the stone's a child. |
把石頭當(dāng)作嬰兒。 |
And Peter that had great affairs |
彼得是個精力過人的家伙, |
And was a pushing man |
有過非凡的種種情事, |
Shrieks,‘I am King of the Peacocks,' |
他高喊著以孔雀王自詡, |
And perches on a stone; |
在石上歇息; |
And then I laugh till tears run down |
而我大笑著直到淚水流下, |
And the heart thumps at my side, |
心臟的胸口急跳, |
Remembering that her shriek was love |
想起從前,她的尖叫是因?yàn)閻矍椋?/td>
|
And that he shrieks from pride. |
他的叫喊是因?yàn)轵湴痢?/td>
|
VIII |
八 |
Summer and Spring
|
夏天和春天
|
We sat under an old thorn-tree |
我們坐在一棵老棘樹下, |
And talked away the night, |
談了整整一晚, |
Told all that had been said or done |
談起我們有生之年 |
Since first we saw the light, |
做過的事,說過的話; |
And when we talked of growing up |
我們談起成年的時候 |
Knew that we'd halved a soul |
裂去了一個完整的靈魂, |
And fell the one in t'other's arms |
談到只有依偎在彼此的懷里 |
That we might make it whole; |
那靈魂才能再度合一; |
Then Peter had a murdering look, |
彼得突然露出兇巴巴的表情, |
For it seemed that he and she |
因?yàn)樗退?/td>
|
Had spoken of their childish days |
也是在這棵樹下 |
Under that very tree. |
似曾同樣談起過他們共同的童年。 |
O what a bursting out there was, |
啊,怎樣的萌芽初吐, |
And what a blossoming, |
怎樣的花團(tuán)錦簇, |
When we had all the summer-time |
當(dāng)我們擁有著整個夏季, |
And she had all the spring! |
而她,擁有著全部的春天。 |
IX |
九 |
The Secrets of the Old
|
老人的秘密
|
I have old women's secrets now |
如今,我知曉了老婦的秘密, |
That had those of the young; |
知曉了她們年輕時的往事; |
Madge tells me what I dared not think |
梅吉告訴了我一位戀人溺死的經(jīng)過, |
When my blood was strong, |
她的話像一支古老的謠曲, |
And what had drowned a lover once |
那是我年輕時候 |
Sounds like an old song. |
也不敢想象的事情。 |
Though Margery is stricken dumb |
要是瑪格麗也在, |
If thrown in Madge's way, |
也會被這些故事驚得無言, |
We three make up a solitude; |
而我們雖然三人一起,卻只感到孤單; |
For none alive to-day |
因?yàn)?,今天在世的人啊?/td>
|
Can know the stories that we know |
無一知曉我們所知的往事, |
Or say the things we say: |
無一知曉我們所說的故事。 |
How such a man pleased women most |
在所有逝去的人當(dāng)中, |
Of all that are gone, |
有那么一個男人曾經(jīng)被女人們喜歡, |
How such a pair loved many years |
有那么一對戀人曾經(jīng)相愛多年, |
And such a pair but one, |
許許多多的故事, |
Stories of the bed of straw |
富貴,貧賤, |
Or the bed of down. |
不再流傳。 |
X |
十 |
His Wildness
|
他的狂野
|
O bid me mount and sail up there |
啊,讓我上馬,起程, |
Amid the cloudy wrack, |
在無數(shù)殘骸中穿行, |
For Peg and Meg and Paris'love |
因?yàn)槟贻p的 |
That had so straight a back, |
佩格、麥格、帕里斯的戀人 |
Are gone away, and some that stay |
都已逝去,而留下的人 |
Have changed their silk for sack. |
用綢緞?chuàng)Q取了麻布。 |
Were I but there and none to hear |
如果我在那里,無人知曉, |
1'd have a peacock cry, |
我會讓一只孔雀啼叫, |
For that is natural to a man |
因這對一個活在回憶中的男人 |
That lives in memory, |
是件再自然不過的事情; |
Being all alone I'd nurse a stone |
在無比的孤獨(dú)里,我情愿照看一塊石頭, |
And sing it lullaby. |
給它唱催眠曲聽。 |
XI |
十一 |
From‘Oedipus at Colonus'
|
出自《俄狄浦斯在科洛努斯》
|
Endure what life God gives and ask no longer span; |
安于上天給予的生命,不要祈求長壽, |
Cease to remember the delights of youth, travel-wearied aged man; |
倦旅中的老者啊,別再回想往昔的歡愉, |
Delight becomes death-longing if all longing else be vain. |
若一切渴望都?xì)w于徒勞,歡愉即會變作對死亡的渴望。 |
Even from that delight memory treasures so, |
甚至,從那為記憶所珍藏的歡愉里, |
Death, despair, division of families, all entanglements of mankind grow, |
也會生出死亡、絕望、家庭的分裂、種種人世的糾葛, |
As that old wandering beggar and these God-hated children know. |
一如這流浪的老丐與這些被上天厭棄的孩童所知。 |
In the long echoing street the laughing dancers throng, |
在滿是回聲的長街上擁擠著跳舞的人群, |
The bride is carried to the bridegroom's chamber through torchlight and tumultuous song; |
在火把與喧鬧的歌聲中,新娘被領(lǐng)入新郎的臥房, |
I celebrate the silent kiss that ends short life or long. |
我贊美那結(jié)束短暫或漫長生命的沉默的親吻。 |
Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say; |
如古代作家們所說,最好的事情莫過于從未活過, |
Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day; |
莫過于從未汲取過生命的氣息,從未凝視過白晝的眼眸, |
The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away. |
其次,才是一聲愉快的晚安和迅速的轉(zhuǎn)身離去。 |