加油站

哎，可真髒啊！
— 這小小的加油站，
給油污浸透，滲遍了，
整個一片令人不安，
發黑的半透明。
小心那火柴！

父親穿著一件肮髒
油膩，箍著腋窩
的短制服，
有幾個手腳快而魯莽的
油膩兒子協助他
（這是個家族加油站），
每一位都完全徹底的髒。

他們就住在加油站吧？
這裡有水泥門廊，
就在油泵後面，而廊上
有一組起了皺，充滿了
油污的藤制家具；
在藤沙發上
有只髒狗，怪舒服的。

幾本連環漫畫書
提供了僅有的色調 —
某種色調。它們擺在
一塊蓋著張小凳子
（那一組的一分子）
的暗色大墊布上面，挨著
一盆毛茸茸，碩大的秋海棠。

為什麼會有不相關的植物？
為什麼會有小凳子？
為什麼，啊，為什麼，會有墊布？
（用雛菊針法繡上了
我想是雛菊花吧，
而且有很多灰色鉤編。）

有人給墊布繡了花。
有人為花澆了水，
或許是上了油。有人
布置了那一排排的罐子
這樣它們便對著
緊張的車輛輕輕地說：
ESSO—SO—SO—SO
有人愛我們每一個。


注：

ESSO指埃索石油公司。這裏是形容一排排汽油罐上ESSO的字樣。

 

 

Filling Station
       
Oh, but it is dirty!
—this little filling station,
oil-soaked, oil-permeated
to a disturbing, over-all
black translucency.
Be careful with that match!

Father wears a dirty,
oil-soaked monkey suit
that cuts him under the arms,
and several quick and saucy
and greasy sons assist him
(it's a family filling station),
all quite thoroughly dirty.

Do they live in the station?
It has a cement porch
behind the pumps, and on it
a set of crushed and grease-
impregnated wickerwork;
on the wicker sofa
a dirty dog, quite comfy.

Some comic books provide
the only note of color—
of certain color. They lie
upon a big dim doily
draping a taboret
(part of the set), beside
a big hirsute begonia.

Why the extraneous plant?
Why the taboret?
Why, oh why, the doily?
(Embroidered in daisy stitch
with marguerites, I think,
and heavy with gray crochet.)

Somebody embroidered the doily.
Somebody waters the plant,
or oils it, maybe. Somebody
arranges the rows of cans
so that they softly say:
ESSO—SO—SO—SO
to high-strung automobiles.
Somebody loves us all.

 

一種藝術

失去這種藝術並不難掌握；
這麼多事物似乎充滿被丟失的意圖，
那失去它們也就不算災禍。

每天都弄丟東西。接受失落
大門鑰匙的狼狽，虛度
的小時。失去這種藝術並不難掌握。

那麼來練習更遠、更快的失落：
地方，名字，還有是打算去何處
旅游的呢。這些都不會帶來災禍。

我弄丟了母親的表。你瞧！我住過
三棟心愛的房子，最後或之前的那棟已去。
失去這種藝術並不難掌握。

我失去了兩座城，可愛的城，而且，更遼闊
的地域我也曾擁有，兩條河流，一整塊大陸。
我想念它們，但那也並不算災禍。

— 甚至失去你（開玩笑的聲音，我愛做
的一種手勢）我可不說瞎話。很清楚，
失去這種藝術並非太難掌握，
盡管它可能看起來（寫下來！）像災禍。

 

One Art  

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
 

原載《詩天空》

 

不信者
    他睡在桅杆頂端 - 班揚

他睡在桅杆頂端，
雙眼緊閉。
船帆從他下面
像床單一樣飄開，
暴露了夜空中沉睡者的腦袋。

熟睡著他被流放到那裏，
熟睡著他在
桅杆頂端鍍金的球裏蜷伏，
或是爬進了
一隻鍍金的鳥，或是盲目地跨坐著。

“我以大理石柱為基，”
一朵雲說。“我從不移動。
看到那邊海裏的柱子嗎？”
安然於內省，
他細看他的水柱倒影。

在他之下一隻海鷗有翼，
并指出天空
“有如大理石。”他說：“在這上面
我像塔一般聳入空中，
因大理石翅膀在我的塔頂飛動。”

可他睡在桅杆頂端，
雙眼緊合。
海鷗查詢他的夢，
原來他默念著，“絕不能掉下去。
下面波光粼粼的海要我掉下去。
它像鑽石般堅硬；它要毀滅我們全體。”

 

The Unbeliever
       He sleeps on the top of a mast. - Bunyan

He sleeps on the top of a mast
with his eyes fast closed.
The sails fall away below him
like the sheets of his bed,
leaving out in the air of the night the sleeper's head.

Asleep he was transported there,
asleep he curled
in a gilded ball on the mast's top,
or climbed inside
a gilded bird, or blindly seated himself astride.

"I am founded on marble pillars,"
said a cloud. "I never move.
See the pillars there in the sea?"
Secure in introspection
he peers at the watery pillars of his reflection.

A gull had wings under his
and remarked that the air
was "like marble." He said: "Up here
I tower through the sky
for the marble wings on my tower-top fly."

But he sleeps on the top of his mast
with his eyes closed tight.
The gull inquired into his dream,
which was, "I must not fall.
The spangled sea below wants me to fall.
It is hard as diamonds; it wants to destroy us all." 

 

卡薩比延卡 ¹

愛是站在燃燒甲板上的男孩
努力背誦“男孩站在
燃燒的甲板上。”²愛是那兒子
    當不幸的船在火焰裏
    下沉仍忍受結巴的演講方式。

愛是那固執的男孩，是那船，
甚至那些游泳的水手，他們
也想要個教室的講台，
    或是一個留在
    甲板上的理由。愛是那燃燒的男孩。

 

注：
1:十九世紀末在尼羅河河口海戰中法國旗艦東方號中彈著火，最終因彈藥庫爆炸而沉沒，指揮官路克·卡薩比延卡父子及絕大部分船員皆陣亡。
2.英國詩人菲莉西婭·赫門斯（1793 – 1835）的著名詩作《卡薩比延卡》的首句。赫門斯這首詩描寫了小卡薩比延卡在危難中堅守崗位的英勇行為，二十世紀五十年代前一直是英美小學生常背誦的詩。

 

Casabianca

Love's the boy stood on the burning deck
trying to recite "The boy stood on
the burning deck." Love's the son
        stood stammering elocution
        while the poor ship in flames went down.

Love's the obstinate boy, the ship,
even the swimming sailors, who
would like a schoolroom platform, too,
        or an excuse to stay
        on deck. And love's the burning boy.