2023-12-08 Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day

【In a Bad Time (1948)】

Wallace Stevens (1879—1955)

        How mad would he have to be to say, "He beheld

        An order and thereafter he belonged

        To it"? He beheld the order of the northern sky.

        But the beggar gazes on calamity

        And thereafter he belongs to it, to bread

        Hard found, and water tasting of misery.

        For him cold's glacial beauty is his fate.

        Without understanding, he belongs to it

        And the night, and midnight, and after, where it is.

        What has he? What he has he has. But what?

        It is not a question of captious repartee.

        What has he that becomes his heart's strong core?

        He has his poverty and nothing more.

        His poverty becomes his heart's strong core—

        A forgetfulness of summer at the pole.

        Sordid Melpomene, why strut bare boards,

        Without scenery or lights, in the theatre's bricks,

        Dressed high in heliotrope's inconstant hue,

        The muse of misery? Speak loftier lines.

        Cry out, "I am the purple muse." Make sure

        The audience beholds you, not your gown.

—— • —— • —— • —— • —— • —— • —— • ——

【《糟糕的時光》(1948)】

異鄉人·史蒂文斯(1879生—1955卒)

【紅霞譯】

        他必須多麼瘋狂才能說：“他看到

        秩序，此後就屬於

        它嗎”？他看到北方天空的秩序。

        但乞丐卻凝視災難

        此後他就屬於它，吃着

        難以找到的麵包，喝着悽愴的苦水。

        於他寒冷的冰河之美就是他的命運。

        不知怎的，他屬於它

        還有晚間、還有午夜、還有此後，所在的地方。

        他擁有什麼？他擁有該有的。但是什麼？

        這不算強辯性回答問題。

        是什麼成為他內心堅強的核心？

        他囊空如洗。

        是貧困成為他內心堅強的核心——

        對極地夏天的忘卻。

        色彩暗淡的悲劇女神，何以撐着光禿禿的木板，

        沒有布景或燈光，在劇院的磚頭裡，

        身着天芥菜變幻莫測的色調，

        悽愴的女神？背些非常高深的台詞。

        大聲喊道：“我是紫色女神。”確保

        觀眾看到的是你，而不是你的禮服。

【注】從紐約唐人街地鐵站下車，我取道美國電話電報公司長途線(AT&T Long Lines)大廈出口，眼前晃動着混雜的線條和夢幻的石頭！

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2023: A Beacon for the Catholic Faithful, NYC(紐約城天主教的燈塔)

2023: NYC's Most Admirable Synagogue(紐約城·嘆為觀止的猶太教堂)

2023: Biggest Chinese Catholic Church in US(全美最大的華人天主教堂)

2023: Mahayana Temple in the Great Vehicle, NYC(紐約城·大乘寺)

2023: Times Sq, the Crossroads of the World(時代廣場·世界十字路口)

2023: Wandering in Midtown Manhattan, NYC(紐約市·浪跡中城)

2023: St. Bartholomew's Church, NYC(紐約城·農夫之子使徒聖公會)

2023: St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC(紐約城·聖帕特里克大教堂)

2023: Rockefeller Ctr Christmas Tree, NYC(紐約城·洛克菲勒中心聖誕樹)

2023: Dior's Carousel of Dreams, NYC(紐約城·金色夢想轉盤)

2023: Chinatown & Little Italy, NYC(紐約市·華埠與小意大利城)

2016: Argumentative─For the Flavor(議論文─利益)

2013: Top of the World, Dubai, UAE(阿聯酋迪拜世界之巔)

2010: 自己的事自己做(DIY)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

USA·New York(美國·紐約州)

USA(出遊美國)