1. XU ZHIMO AT THE ORCHARD
Socrates sat by a blackberry bush,
Confucius under an apple tree.
Dickinson spoke in a very low voice,
People in deck-chairs drank their tea.
Socrates was concerned with soul,
Confucius more with observing li.
A chaffinch perched on the black berry bush,
Then flew on into the apple tree.
Socrates didn't claim to be wise,
Nor did Confucius claim to be.
The chaffinch moved to another bush
Or was it another bird I could see?
People in deck-chairs nodded to sleep,
Dickinson’s words went drifting away,
I dreamt the chaffinch was Duke of Chou
And a golden age, that cloudy day.
果園裡的徐志摩
蘇格拉底坐在黑莓叢旁,
孔子坐在蘋果樹下。
狄金森低聲訴說,
躺椅上的人們在喝著茶。
蘇格拉底關注的是靈魂,
孔子更關注的是禮儀。
一隻蒼頭燕雀飛落在黑莓叢上,
然後又飛向了那棵蘋果樹。
蘇格拉底從沒自詡為智者,
孔子也沒有自以為智。
是蒼頭燕雀跳上另一叢灌木,
還是我眼花看到了另一隻鳥兒?
躺椅上的人們打著瞌睡,
狄金森的話兒也飄落風中,
我夢見那隻蒼頭燕雀變成了周公,
還有一個黃金時代,在那個陰天。
2. VISITING TAO QIAN
We walked across the fields to the edge of the South Village,
My friend, a poor scholar, escaping war in his district.
We found the poet alone in his thatched cottage retreat,
A felled elm in the garden, chrysanthemums by the hedge.
Inside we sat by the fire talking of this and that.
Enough just to be there: supping from bowls of wine,
His ancestors in the shadows like mountains in the clouds,
A nut cake on the table to accompany the wine.
A north wind was blowing as we retraced our steps,
War threatening this land no less than my scholar friend’s.
The poet we’d left at his gate with his walking sticks and flowers,
Laughing about the cake we had quite forgotten to eat.
——問學陶潛(TAO QIAN)
穿過田野,
我們來到了南村的村口;
探望我的朋友,
一位窮學究,
躲在自己的社區裡逃避著戰爭。
我們發現,
詩人獨自隱居在茅草屋裡,
花園裡有棵被砍倒的榆樹,
籬笆旁開滿了菊花。
我們圍坐在屋裡的火爐旁,
談談這個,說說那個。
只要坐在一起,大家就已心滿意足:
品著杯中的酒香,
看著牆上的祖先掛像,
陰影裡,他們宛如游雲高山,
桌上的堅果蛋糕陪著傍邊的酒。
回家的路上,北風正烈,
戰爭威脅著這片土地,
正如這位學究朋友所面對的那些煩憂。
我們把詩人留在他家的門口,
他拄著手杖,看著鮮花,
笑談桌上那個我們忘吃的蛋糕。
3. ON BEING DEAD
(after TAO QIAN)
Yesterday I was fully alive.
Tomorrow I will be dead.
Where will my spirit go?
To the winds? To the earth?
Will my children be sad?
Their hearts may miss a beat.
Will my friends remember me?
Even in life they forgot.
What will money matter then?
Or being right or wrong?
I'll have but a single regret:
That drink we were to have.
談生論死
(和詩陶潛)
昨日活力多。
明天死翹翹。
魂歸何處去?
我要細思量:
隨風魂散去?
入土身為安?
孩兒會傷心?
難過一陣子。
親朋懷念我?
死前已不見。
錢多有啥用?
對錯又如何?
心存一缺憾:
錯過那酒飯!
作者簡介:
約翰·德魯(John Drew),先後就讀於加拿大新布倫瑞克大學、美國芝加哥大學和英國劍橋大學。自1986年開始經營自己的劍橋詩歌工作室,出版詩集多部。他喜歡旅行,當過記者和郵遞員;曾在英國、加拿大、新加坡、中國和匈牙利等國做過大學老師。他在劍橋大學的博士論文是《印度和浪漫的想像》(India and the Romantic Imagination)(牛津大學出版社,印度,1987)。
譯者簡介:
孫繼成,1970年生,山東巨野人,先後就讀於山東師範大學、山東大學和北京大學。現為山東理工大學翻譯系副教授,碩士研究生導師。主要研究領域是國際漢學、口述史研究、中國現當代文學英譯和來華傳教士研究。