文字難度:★★★☆
My father worked with a horse plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the 1)shafts and the 2)furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
父親趕馬,犁地耕田,
鼓起雙肩,猶如滿帆撐懸,
航揚(yáng)車轅、土壟之間。
喀噠喊聲,驅(qū)馬奮力向前。
An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright-4)pointed 5)sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck.
行家里手,裝好犁翼,
配上犁頭,尖銳錚亮。
翻土層卷,整整齊齊。
器械那頭,一拽繩韁。
Of 8)reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
汗馬轉(zhuǎn)向,回踏田地。
此時(shí)父親輕瞇一眼,
定角睨視前方土地,
精確測繪犁溝距間。
I stumbled in his 9)hobnailed 10)wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his 11)plod.
我隨他靴印前行跌撞,
有時(shí)在犁平的泥地摔一把;
有時(shí)我會(huì)騎到他背上,
隨他沉重的步伐浮沉上下。
I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow around the farm.
盼著長大,犁耕馭馬,
學(xué)他閉一眼雙臂使勁牽。
回想兒時(shí),只跟著他
那寬大身影走在田壟間。
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
以前煩人的是我,常絆常摔,
唧唧喳喳吵不停,可到現(xiàn)在,
卻是父親,常在我后面跌摔,
也是父親,總跟著不愿離開。
謝默斯•希尼(Seamus Heaney,1939-)是一位偉大的愛爾蘭詩人。他于1962年開始發(fā)表詩作,1995年獲得諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。他的詩歌對現(xiàn)代詩歌的影響是巨大的,世界性的。對他的諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)提名是這樣寫的,“他的作品有一種抒情美和倫理深度,歌頌了日常生活中的奇跡和鮮活的往事?!敝性娂兑粋€(gè)自然主義者的死亡》(Death of a Naturalist)、《進(jìn)入黑暗之門》(Door into the Dark)、《在外過冬》(Winterins Out)等。
本期精選的Follower一詩追述了當(dāng)年詩人和他的父親在田間一起度過的一些時(shí)光。一個(gè)個(gè)精致的片斷在詩歌末節(jié)——老去的父親和自己角色對換的情景中化為印記,不禁讓人感嘆,時(shí)間最是無情物……但愿天下兒女都能以同樣程度的關(guān)愛回報(bào)自己那漸老去的父母!