I died for beauty, but was scarce ---- Emily Dickenson

又是時候選譯幾行詩練習一下. 這次不幸被我劣筆選中的仍然是 Emily Dickenson.

I died for beauty, but was scarce

I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied."
And I for truth, -the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

以下是我的非專業譯文:

我為美而亡,
但仍未適應墓塚.
為真理而亡的人
就埋葬在我的鄰室.

他輕輕詢問我為何失敗了?
“為了美,” 我回答.
“而我是為了真理, ---- 二者本為一;
我們可是弟兄.” 他說.

於是, 就像夜半相逢的親人,
我們隔室長談,
直至青苔攀上我們的嘴唇,
並掩去我們的名字.


我向來不是個浪漫的女子, 習慣一邊看詩, 一邊澆冷水. 一般人可能會覺得這首詩的意象很幽美, 但我第一時間想到的卻是屍體腐化的過程, 還有就是那些中人欲嘔的灰白色屍蟲.

然後想到的是, 詩人的人生觀似乎頗為簡單:
“美” 等於 “真理”. 而為美 (真理) 而死是很有詩意的.雖然還未想到詳細的反駁, 不過我總是覺得這樣想未免將世界太過簡單化了.

Because I Could Not Stop for Death ---- Emily Dickinson

向來對 Emily Dickinson 沒什麼特別喜好, 可能因為我的母語不是英語, 感受不到其詩字裡行間的感染力, 也不覺得詩中哲理有何特別之處. 對於她的生平, 除了她未婚, 我最記得的就是她曾經入讀Mount Holyoke Female Seminary(即著名女子大學 Mount Holyoke College 的前身), 未夠一年就退學了, 後人推測可能是因為抑鬱症, 也可能是因為她忍受不了學校的狂熱宗教氣氛.

近日臨睡翻翻詩集, 發現 “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” 的意境頗令人回味.

以下是我的非專業譯文, 沒有押韻和調整音步音尺, 只是粗略譯出文意而已:

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, he passed us;
The dews drew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice in the ground.

Since then ’tis centuries, and yet
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.

我不能停候死亡, 於是
死亡好意地停車等候我;
馬車只承載我倆, 與
不朽.

我們徐徐而行, 祂並不匆促,
而我也把工作及閑暇
置放一邊, 就為了
祂殷勤好禮的接待.

我們經過學校, 鐘聲間,
學童下課飛奔;
我們經過稻田, 在稻穗的凝視之下;
我們經過落日.

------或是, 落日經過我們;
露水帶來震顫的寒意,
因我的禮服只是薄紗,
披肩只是雲羅.

我們在某房子前停下,
它有如地面隆起的一塊,
屋頂隱然不見,
飛簷埋於地下.

此後, 幾個世紀過去, 但
只感時光飛逝, 方一日未盡.
我猜想當天馬兒奔向的
就是永恆.

William Shakespeare - The Sonnets - XVIII

上次分享第十七首, 這次分享第十八首.

XVIII

SHALL I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

以下是我的非專業譯文, 沒有押韻和對音步音尺, 只是粗略譯出文意而已:

可否讓我把你比作一個夏日
可是你比夏日更可愛温和
和風吹拂五月的初蕾
而夏日的限期卻是這樣地短
有時候太陽的照耀是多麼熾熱
但這光芒也常會變得朦朧
有時候一切最美妙的事物都會衰亡
不論是隨著機緣還是自然的過程
但是你這永恆的夏日卻永不消失
明麗的景致也永不褪色
即使死亡也不能令你徘徊其陰影中
因為藉著永恆的詩句, 你可與時間永存
　　只要人們氣息仍在, 雙目能見
　　這詩就可賦予你生命

William Shakespeare - The Sonnets - XVII

說起莎士比亞的十四行詩, 人們通常會推薦第十八首. 不過, 這次我想分享第十七首.

XVII

WHO will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say ‘This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.’
So should my papers, yellow'd with their age,
Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice,—in it, and in my rhyme.

以下是我的非專業譯文, 沒有押韻和調整音步音尺, 只是粗略譯出文意而已:

如果我把你最崇高的美德都寫進這首詩,
將來有誰會相信我的詩句呢?
雖然, 天知道, 這首詩只是埋葬你生命的一座墳,
不足以展現你的生命--------連一半也不能.
如我的文筆足以形容你雙目的流盼,
如我能用韻律細述你的優美,
將來的人一定會說: "這詩人說謊!
如此天姿何曾落入凡間?"
於是我的詩冊隨著歲月流逝而薰黃,
被人們當作饒舌老頭般唾棄.
而你的真容竟被誣蔑為詩人瘋狂的創作,
被視為一首古歌誇張的韻律而已.
　　但, 若那時候你仍有子嗣在世,
　　你將再活兩次---------在他身上, 在這首詩中.

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對不起, 暫無故事.