《英美抒情詩新譯》選載（二）

 

傅正明

喬治·桑塔耶納 *

給 W.P. ❶

 

George Santayana

 

To W. P.

 

一

海浪平息，諸君相伴出海去，

不知那海域比南海❷ 平靜幾許！

卻難料微風陡然疾行，把多少無名夥伴

從年邁慈母淚眼裏一一奪去。

赤子靈魂熟睡時，遭此劫數，

一個個快樂朋友天界團聚，

一株株嘉樹綠魂飄如浮萍，

海空靜觀，悄然無語。

童真遺體斷了最後一口清氣，

無染面對神明。何故再傷悲？

豈不知其死乃聖潔之死？

死者安息，生者不會久徘徊，

借君一生，生活煥然添美好，

借君一死，死亡從此更容易。

 

1

 

Calm was the sea to which your course you kept,

Oh, how much calmer than all southern seas!

Many your nameless mates, whom the keen breeze

Wafted from mothers that of old have wept.

All souls of children taken as they slept

Are your companions, partners of your ease,

And the green souls of all these autumn trees

Are with you through the silent spaces swept.

Your virgin body gave its gentle breath

Untainted to the gods. Why should we grieve,

But that we merit not your holy death?

We shall not loiter long, your friends and I;

Living you made it goodlier to live,

Dead you will make it easier to die.

 

二

 

我心破碎，碎片帶血隨君飛，

只因我意林中友人如樹，

君茂盛時不敵冬日風急，

葉飄零，再難重披綠衣。

教堂爐邊，山路水隈，

當年親昵已辭退，

舊情新景，不知何處覓，

晚來對鏡，秋霜一日染青絲。

望中猶記心田裏，

勞君惠贈輕盈童心和善意，

親切友愛即榮譽，

厚禮添我人生富裕。

我珍藏君之所饋，

君擄去我心碎片，孰多孰少難知。

 

2

 

With you a part of me hath passed away;

For in the peopled forest of my mind

A tree made leafless by this wintry wind

Shall never don again its green array.

Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,

Have something of their friendliness resigned;

Another, if I would, I could not find,

And I am grown much older in a day.

But yet I treasure in my memory

Your gift of charity, your mellow ease,

And the dear honour of your amity;

For these once mine, my life is rich with these.

And I scarce know which part may greater be,--

What I keep of you, or you rob of me.

 

三

 

君已拋錨繫心舟，靜待港灣裏，

直到和風催帆再度出海去，

大風為君插翅，護送靈魂

乘著黎明翱翔，融入碧天清輝。

無情卻有情？天意半解半疑。

君之韶華伴我歡娛，枯萎有日，

上帝令其安息，賜予恆久恩惠，

當年樂景，永生已借去。

但憶舊時我教神思起飛，

飛向今昔宏圖棲身之地，

生命永恆不熄，靜靜飄忽高飛，

瞥見彼岸我所愛，萬千合為一，

不見生變易，不再恨別離，

不見日出日落月盈虧。

 

3

 

Your bark lies anchored in the peaceful bight

Until a kinder wind unfurl her sail;

Your docile spirit, wingèd by this gale,

Hath at the dawning fled into the light.

And I half know why heaven deemed it right

Your youth, and this my joy in youth, should fail;

God hath them still, for ever they avail,

Eternity hath borrowed that delight.

For long ago I taught my thoughts to run

Where all the great things live that lived of yore,

And in eternal quiet float and soar;

There all my loves are gathered into one,

Where change is not, nor parting any more,

Nor revolution of the moon and sun.

 

四

 

心底鐘聲和諧，長鳴不已，

為君報喪，即使嘉樹尚未死去。

因為時間如面具，遮蓋當年青春容顏，

興許比死亡面具更令人悲戚。

且看那枝條，掛滿碩果易脫落，

倘若枝頭只有花冠，便難摧折。

幾多貴　化塵埃，恰如枯樹無片葉，

身後污濁，無人銘記無人獻詩。

相比之下，君乃真誠赤子，

儘管後世難知君之嘉名，

史筆不會大書災年事故，

卻有稀少知音，眷戀摯友生前行跡，

無論何時長相憶。吾輩德行不厚，

願以內美為君樹立紀念碑。

 

4

 

In my deep heart these chimes would still have rung

To toll your passing, had you not been dead;

For time a sadder mask than death may spread

Over the face that ever should be young.

The bough that falls with all its trophies hung

Falls not too soon, but lays its flower-crowned head

Most royal in the dust, with no leaf shed

Unhallowed or unchiselled or unsung.

And though the after world will never hear

The happy name of one so gently true,

Nor chronicles write large this fatal year,

Yet we who loved you, though we be but few,

Keep you in whatsoe'er is good, and rear

In our weak virtues monuments to you.

 

* 喬治·桑塔耶納( 1863-1952)，生於西班牙的美國哲學家、美學家、詩人和作家，詩集有《十四行詩和其他詩作》（Sonnets and Other Verses, 1896)等。

❶ 這首詩最初發表於1896年。W.P. 指詩人的摯友 Warwick Potter，1893年死於船難。

❷ 指詩人所在的美國麻省的海域。

 

選自 傅正明譯注《英美抒情詩新譯（台灣商務印書館，2012年）