葉維廉 譯 | 梅新五首詩的英譯
◇原文刊登於《新大陸》詩刊 1997年第43期
梅新(1937-1997),本名章益新,常以魚川筆名寫詩以外的文章,在中央日報副刊闢「魚川讀詩」專欄,評介現代詩。花蓮師專、中國文化大學新聞系畢業,曾任大學教職。後步入傳播界,擔任過民生報、聯合報編輯、臺灣時報副刊主編、中央日報撰述、正中書局副總編輯,聯合文學月刊主編、現代詩季刊社長,國文天地社社長,繼任中央日報主筆兼副總編輯、副刊中心主任暨副刊主編。
梅新五首詩的英譯
葉維廉
Mei Hsin (1937-1997)
Translated by Wai-lim Yip
▌On the Slope
On the slope of the globe
One must anchor a foot against a tree
To avoid slipping off
So that one can safely finish smoking a cigarette.
Cigarette ends and ash
Mix in with the ash of the earth
One cannot tell ash
From earth.
When the sun begins to set
The slope of the globe is the steepest.
I anchor my foot against a tree
Stiffy straight foot
Like a pole against a difficult door.
▌在斜坡上
於地球的斜坡上
要以脚抵著樹
才能免於滑落
才能安穩底吸完一支煙
煙蒂和煙灰
和到泥土裡的煙灰
煙灰抑或泥土
忽已不可辨
而落日的時光
地球的斜坡最陡
黄昏中
我抵著一株树
直挺的脚
猶如顶著門的扁擔
2
▌Pigeon
Picking up a dying pigeon
And throwing it with one's might up the sky——
This is the best way
to cure the bird's wounds,
Because even if it is not cured,
We at least let it
Fly high one more time.
This is also
Its best funeral.
▌鸽子
將一隻垂死的鸽子
用力摔向天空
這是治療鳥的創傷
最好的方法
即使治不好
讓牠在高空
再翱翔一次
也是
最好的葬禮
3
▌A Matter of the Past
The girl that l saw off just now,
As I turned my head,
Was still sitting there,
The same expression,
As before.
Could it be
The shadow she left behind?
The man who saw the girl off——
Whenever he raised his foot, he
Always hit the girl's breasts;
Whenever he went
She was always ahead of him.
Could it be that
She somehow came back to his room?
This matter of the past
I did not tell my wife
Until twenty years after we were married,
Because I was afraid
That she would say
That girl was herself
And that man was me.
▌舊事
刚送走的那女子
回頭
她還是坐在那裡
她的坐姿,以及
她說話的表情
和先前的一模一樣
莫非是
她留在那兒的影子
刚送走女子的那男子
一翹腳
碰到那女子的臀部
一轉身
撞到那女子的胸脯
無論他走到那裡
她都比他先存在
莫非
根本没有將她送走
莫非
她又回到他的房裡来了
此事
我於結婚二十年後
才告訴妻
因為
我怕她説
那女子就是她
那男子就是我
4
▌To do a show
Lips tightly closed,
I smothered alive
My song
Inside my mouth
Stiff and cold,
The body of the song
Stiff and cold,
The blood of the song,
Inside my mouth
My teeth, too
Were
Stiff and cold.
The body of the song
stuffed my mouth.
If I did not
Chew it into pieces
And swallow them into my stomach,
I would myself
Be smothered.
At the end of the show
The audience said
They can still hear my humming.
In the mike.
I replied
No
What they heard
Was my crunch into the bones of the song.
▌做 秀
緊閉雙唇
将歌
在我的嘴裡
活活
悶死
僵冷的
歌的屍體
僵冷的
歌的血
在我的嘴裡
我的牙根
也是
僵冷的
歌的屍體
塞住我的嘴
若不將它
嚼碎
吞進肚裡
我會因此
窒息而死
终場時
聽眾說
麥克風裡
仍有我哼的聲音
我說
不是的
那是我咬到
歌的骨頭
5
▌Fruitlike Eyes
Eyes of animals
Are lilke
Fruits.
Eys of humans
Are like
Grains of barley and rice.
Modelling clay in Kindergarten,
I used grains
To form human eyes.
Modelling stone when grown up,
I still find
Grains most agreeable.
Poets and philosophers
Are two kinds of people
Who love to look at stars
And landscapes,
But one must say
They look at food more often
Than looking at stars and moon
And because of this
Until death,
There is not any change in their eyes
No change
Into fruitlike eyes
And with eyes unlike grains
Humans would not look like humans.
I was first to discover this
And I cannot change this discovery
And because of this
I often suffer.
▌眼睛像果實
動物的
眼睛
像果實
人的
眼睛
像麥子和穀粒
小時候玩泥陶
以食米
作人像的眼睛
長大了塑石像
還是覺得
以稻穀最為合適
詩人和哲學家
是最愛看星
看山水的兩種人
但畢竟
看食物的時候
還是比看星月的時候多
所以他們的眼睛
至死
仍未有任何改變
改變了
眼睛像果實
眼睛不像穀粒
就不像人
是我第一個發現的
我常為
不能改變我的發現所苦
葉維廉,1937年生於廣東珠海,獲愛荷華大學美學碩士及普林斯頓大學比較文學博士。葉維廉早年曾名列“台灣十大傑出詩人”之一,後轉而從事比較文學、美學和文化哲學等的研究。曾任美國加州大學教授、臺灣大學外文系客座教授,香港中文大學比較文學研究所所長,清華大學客座教授。葉維廉在學術上貢獻最突出最具國際影響力的是東西比較文學方法的提供與发明。
達文 譯 | 見證錄:波蘭當代詩選輯(上輯)
高曉韻 譯 | 宋凱西詩四首
主編: 陳銘華 編委: 陳銘華,遠方,達文
顧問:非馬,鄭愁予,葉維廉,張錯,羅青
公眾號編輯:蘇拉