寂静侵入了郊区, 知觉的脉流已停歇
W.H.奥登(Wystan Hugh Auden,1907-1973),美国诗人
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朗读:W. H. 奥登
| In Memory of W.B.Yeats |
W. H. Auden
I
He disappeared in the dead of winter:
The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,
And snow disfigured the public statues;
The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day.
Far from his illness
The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,
The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;
By mourning tongues
The death of the poet was kept from his poems.
But for him it was his last afternoon as himself,
An afternoon of nurses and rumours;
The provinces of his body revolted,
The squares of his mind were empty,
Silence invaded the suburbs,
The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.
Now he is scattered among a hundred cities
And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections,
To find his happiness in another kind of wood
And be punished under a foreign code of conscience.
The words of a dead man
Are modified in the guts of the living.
But in the importance and noise of to-morrow
When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the
Bourse,
And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly
accustomed,
And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his
freedom,
A few thousand will think of this day
As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day.
斯莱戈鼓崖陵园的叶芝墓的墓碑上,是叶芝生前为自己选定的墓志铭“向生死投下冷眼/骑士们,向前。”
| 悼念叶芝 |
W.H. 奥登
I
他在严寒的冬天消失了:
小溪已冻结,飞机场几无人迹
积雪模糊了露天的塑像;
水银柱跌进垂死一天的口腔。
呵,所有的仪表都同意
他死的那天是寒冷而又阴暗。
远远离开他的疾病
狼群奔跑过常青的树林,
农家的河没受到时髦码头的诱导;
哀悼的文辞
把诗人的死同他的诗隔开。
但对他说,那不仅是他自己结束,
那也是他最后一个下午,
呵,走动着护士和传言的下午;
他的躯体的各省都叛变了,
他的头脑的广场逃散一空,
寂静侵入到近郊,
他的感觉之流中断:他成了他的爱读者。
如今他被播散到一百个城市,
完全移交给陌生的友情;
他要在另一种林中寻求快乐,
并且在迥异的良心法典下受惩处。
一个死者的文字
要在活人的腑肺间被润色。
但在来日的重大和喧嚣中,
当交易所的掮客像野兽一般咆哮,
当穷人承受着他们相当习惯的苦痛,
当每人在自我的囚室里几乎自信是自由的
有个千把人会想到这一天,
仿佛在这天曾做了稍稍不寻常的事情。
呵,所有的仪表都同意,
他死的那天是寒冷而又阴暗。
查良铮 译
W.H.奥登在斯沃斯莫尔学院任教期间(1942-1945)使用的安德伍德打字机
| 诗悼叶芝 |
W.H. 奥登
Ⅰ
他消逝于寒冬时节:
溪流封冻,机场迹近荒芜,
积雪模糊了露天雕像的身形;
水银柱沉入了弥留之日的口唇。
我们许可了怎样的仪器
他死去的那天如此阴暗凄冷。
远离了他的疾病,
狼群继续奔行在常绿的森林,
农夫之河不曾受时髦码头的诱引;
悲痛的语言已令
诗人之死与他的诗篇泾渭分明。
但对于他,这是他自己的最后的下午,
一个被护士和谣言包围的下午;
他身体的各省已叛乱,
他意识的广场空空如也,
寂静侵入了郊区,
知觉的脉流已停歇;他汇入了他的景仰者。
此刻,在一百座城市间被传诵,
他全然置身于那些陌生的爱意,
要在另一种树林里找寻他的快乐,
还须领受异域良知法则的惩治。
一个死者的言辞
将在活人的肺腑间被改写。
而在未来的显要与喧嚣中,
当经纪人在交易所的场子里如野兽般嘶吼,
当穷人对他们身受的种种苦痛已习以为常,
当每个身在自我牢狱中的人几乎确信他的自由,
数以千计的人仍会想起这个日子
如同会记起某天,当做了稍不寻常的事。
我们许可了怎样的仪器
他死去的那天如此阴暗凄冷。
马鸣谦 蔡海燕 译
选自《奥登诗选:1927-1947》上海译文出版社 2014年
奥登获得普利策奖的长诗《焦虑的时代》书影
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