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.

—— • —— • —— • —— • —— • —— • —— • ——

【《糟糕的时光》(1948)】

异乡人·史蒂文斯(1879生—1955卒)

【红霞译】

        他必须多么疯狂才能说：“他看到

        秩序，此后就属于

        它吗”？他看到北方天空的秩序。

        但乞丐却凝视灾难

        此后他就属于它，吃着

        难以找到的面包，喝着凄怆的苦水。

        于他寒冷的冰河之美就是他的命运。

        不知怎的，他属于它

        还有晚间、还有午夜、还有此后，所在的地方。

        他拥有什么？他拥有该有的。但是什么？

        这不算强辩性回答问题。

        是什么成为他内心坚强的核心？

        他囊空如洗。

        是贫困成为他内心坚强的核心——

        对极地夏天的忘却。

        色彩暗淡的悲剧女神，何以撑着光秃秃的木板，

        没有布景或灯光，在剧院的砖头里，

        身着天芥菜变幻莫测的色调，

        凄怆的女神？背些非常高深的台词。

        大声喊道：“我是紫色女神。”确保

        观众看到的是你，而不是你的礼服。

【注】从纽约唐人街地铁站下车，我取道美国电话电报公司长途线(AT&T Long Lines)大厦出口，眼前晃动着混杂的线条和梦幻的石头！

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2023: A Beacon for the Catholic Faithful, NYC(纽约城天主教的灯塔)

2023: NYC's Most Admirable Synagogue(纽约城·叹为观止的犹太教堂)

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

2023: Mahayana Temple in the Great Vehicle, NYC(纽约城·大乘寺)

2023: Times Sq, the Crossroads of the World(时代广场·世界十字路口)

2023: Wandering in Midtown Manhattan, NYC(纽约市·浪迹中城)

2023: St. Bartholomew's Church, NYC(纽约城·农夫之子使徒圣公会)

2023: St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC(纽约城·圣帕特里克大教堂)

2023: Rockefeller Ctr Christmas Tree, NYC(纽约城·洛克菲勒中心圣诞树)

2023: Dior's Carousel of Dreams, NYC(纽约城·金色梦想转盘)

2023: Chinatown & Little Italy, NYC(纽约市·华埠与小意大利城)

2016: Argumentative─For the Flavor(议论文─利益)

2013: Top of the World, Dubai, UAE(阿联酋迪拜世界之巅)

2010: 自己的事自己做(DIY)

Crosslinks(相关博文):

USA·New York(美国·纽约州)

USA(出游美国)