週一 9月 12, 2005 8:55 am
Elizabeth Bishop
This is the time of year
when almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,
每年這段時間
幾乎每一晚
易破的犯法的孔明燈出現,
爬上山頂。
rising toward a saint
still honored in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.
向聖徒提升
在這些地方他們仍受尊崇,
紙燈籠中點火混身通紅,
來來去去如一顆顆心。
Once up against the sky it's hard
to tell them from the stars--
planets, that is--the tinted ones:
Venus going down, or Mars,
一上到天空就很難
分辨是紙燈籠或是星星—
都是行星啦, 彩色紛紜;
到底金星走下來, 還是火星,
or the pale green one. With a wind,
they flare and falter, wobble and toss;
but if it's still they steer between
the kite sticks of the Southern Cross,
或是淺綠色那一顆。風一颺,
他們著火搖晃抖動下滑
但如果風勢穩定, 他們會
在南十字座的兩軸上梭巡。
receding, dwindling, solemnly
and steadily forsaking us,
or, in the downdraft from a peak,
suddenly turning dangerous.
引退, 縮小, 莊嚴地
有秩序地拋棄我們,
或, 遇上山頂的下氣流,
就會突然成為危難。
Last night another big one fell.
It splattered like an egg of fire
against the cliff behind the house.
The flame ran down. We saw the pair
昨晚一個大的下墜,
它如火蛋爆濺
挨著屋後的懸崖
火熖滾下來。我們見到那雙,
of owls who nest there flying up
and up, their whirling black-and-white
stained bright pink underneath, until
they shrieked up out of sight.
巢居該處的貓頭鷹飛起
又飛起, 牠們黑白的旋渦
把下面暈染紅光一片。
牠們尖叫著消失眼前。
The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
Hastily, all alone,
a glistening armadillo left the scene,
rose-flecked, head down, tail down,
貓頭鷹古舊的巢穴一定被燒燬了。
匆匆地, 孤單地,
一隻閃亮的犰狳離開現場,
玫瑰紅的斑紋, 垂頭耷尾地,
and then a baby rabbit jumped out,
short-eared, to our surprise.
So soft!--a handful of intangible ash
with fixed, ignited eyes.
然後小白兔跳出來,
短耳朵, 令我們驚喜。
何等柔軟!- 如一把難以形狀的灰燼
固執的炯炯的眼。
by Elizabeth Bishop
2005/9/12 譯
Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry! O falling fire and piercing cry and panic,
and a weak mailed fist clenched ignorant against the sky!
太漂亮, 夢幻般的模擬! 火球的下墜, 尖叫和驚慌。而一株柔弱的念珠藤緊握拳頭無知望向天空。
This is the time of year
when almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,
每年這段時間
幾乎每一晚
易破的犯法的孔明燈出現,
爬上山頂。
rising toward a saint
still honored in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.
向聖徒提升
在這些地方他們仍受尊崇,
紙燈籠中點火混身通紅,
來來去去如一顆顆心。
Once up against the sky it's hard
to tell them from the stars--
planets, that is--the tinted ones:
Venus going down, or Mars,
一上到天空就很難
分辨是紙燈籠或是星星—
都是行星啦, 彩色紛紜;
到底金星走下來, 還是火星,
or the pale green one. With a wind,
they flare and falter, wobble and toss;
but if it's still they steer between
the kite sticks of the Southern Cross,
或是淺綠色那一顆。風一颺,
他們著火搖晃抖動下滑
但如果風勢穩定, 他們會
在南十字座的兩軸上梭巡。
receding, dwindling, solemnly
and steadily forsaking us,
or, in the downdraft from a peak,
suddenly turning dangerous.
引退, 縮小, 莊嚴地
有秩序地拋棄我們,
或, 遇上山頂的下氣流,
就會突然成為危難。
Last night another big one fell.
It splattered like an egg of fire
against the cliff behind the house.
The flame ran down. We saw the pair
昨晚一個大的下墜,
它如火蛋爆濺
挨著屋後的懸崖
火熖滾下來。我們見到那雙,
of owls who nest there flying up
and up, their whirling black-and-white
stained bright pink underneath, until
they shrieked up out of sight.
巢居該處的貓頭鷹飛起
又飛起, 牠們黑白的旋渦
把下面暈染紅光一片。
牠們尖叫著消失眼前。
The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
Hastily, all alone,
a glistening armadillo left the scene,
rose-flecked, head down, tail down,
貓頭鷹古舊的巢穴一定被燒燬了。
匆匆地, 孤單地,
一隻閃亮的犰狳離開現場,
玫瑰紅的斑紋, 垂頭耷尾地,
and then a baby rabbit jumped out,
short-eared, to our surprise.
So soft!--a handful of intangible ash
with fixed, ignited eyes.
然後小白兔跳出來,
短耳朵, 令我們驚喜。
何等柔軟!- 如一把難以形狀的灰燼
固執的炯炯的眼。
by Elizabeth Bishop
2005/9/12 譯
Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry! O falling fire and piercing cry and panic,
and a weak mailed fist clenched ignorant against the sky!
太漂亮, 夢幻般的模擬! 火球的下墜, 尖叫和驚慌。而一株柔弱的念珠藤緊握拳頭無知望向天空。