[棄的藝術]
--Elizabeth Bishop(1911-1979)
棄的藝術其實並不難精通；
太多事情充滿了被毀棄的潛力
彷彿毀棄了並不是什麼慘劇。
每日一棄。坦然接受這意亂情迷
於大門鑰匙弄丟之際，時間就這樣糟蹋了。
棄的藝術其實並不難精通。
然後練習毀得更多，棄得更快：
熟悉的地點與名字，或一些地方你曾想
一探究竟。這些都算不上是慘劇。
弄丟了母親傳給我的錶，唉呀！我最愛、
或次愛的最後三棟房子也沒了。
其實棄的藝術並不難精通。
我拋棄了兩座城市，可愛的雙城，不只這樣，
還有我的幾塊領地，兩條河流，一整片神州大陸。
我懷念它們，但這並不是什麼慘劇。
——失去你也沒什麼了不起(嘻笑的語氣，我最愛扮的
嘴臉)縱然我不該強顏歡笑。但很明顯的
棄的藝術其實並不難精通
縱然看起來(這句要抄下來！)看起來像災難。
[One Art]
The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.
--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
圖說:巴黎植物園(Jardin des Plantes)
[睡在天花板上]
--Elizabeth Bishop(1911-1979)
天花板上多麼平靜啊！
這裡是「協和廣場」。
黑暗之中有小噴泉。
公園裡沒有半個靈魂。
天花板下，壁紙翹了起來，
「植物園」的大門已經深鎖。
那些都是動物們的照片。
肥大的花朵和叢叢綠葉沙沙做響；
綠葉之下有昆蟲們在鑽洞。
我們必須走過壁紙底下
去迎擊昆蟲鬥劍士，
以捕網和三叉戟格鬥，
然後才能離開噴泉和廣場。
但哎呀，我們本來能睡在那兒的…
譯註：此處指法國巴黎的「協和廣場」(Place de la Concorde)與「植物園」(Jardin des Plantes)。
[Sleeping on the Ceiling]
It is so peaceful on the ceiling!
It is the Place de la Concorde.
The little fountain is in the dark.
Not a soul is in the park.
Below, where the wallpaper is peeling,
the Jardin des Plantes has locked its gates.
Those photographs are animals.
The mighty flowers and foliage rustle;
Under the leaves the insects tunnel.
We must go under the wallpaper
to meet the insect-gladiator,
to battle with a net and trident,
and leave the fountain and the square.
But oh, that we could sleep up there…
[犰狳]
-- Elizabeth Bishop(1911-1979)
(贈羅勃．洛威爾)
每年這個時候
幾乎每一夜都會出現
許多薄弱的、非法施放的天燈。
一盞盞爬昇到山際，
去陛見一位得道高人
這位山人在這一帶仍頗受敬重，
紙房子裡紅通通的充滿了光
來來去去，如一顆顆的心。
當天燈昇至天際
就很難分清何者是星星——
行星群，也就是——那些朦朦朧朧的：
金星漸漸沉落，或火星，
或淡青色的那顆星。在風中，
天燈乎明乎暗，板蕩飄搖；
但若得一刻安寧它們就穩穩航向
南十字星座的鳶尾形之際，
而後緩緩下降、逐一失落，肅靜
又堅定地拋棄了我們，
抑或是，在登峰造極後向下沉淪
剎那間變成危險。
昨夜又一龐然天燈墜地。
它如一粒火卵啪嗒一聲
火花四濺於屋後的山崖上。
餘焰流洩。我們望見一雙
貓頭鷹的巢穴在彼故振翅飛起
飛起，牠們黑白交錯的盤旋
掩映著底下桃色的光焰，直到
牠們嚎叫著飛離了我們的視線。
老貓頭鷹的巢一定被燒掉了。
急急忙忙，孤孤單單，
一隻斑爛的犰狳離開了現場，
身上點點緋色、垂著頭、縮著尾，
繼而一隻小兔子一躍而出，
捲著耳朵，嚇了我們一跳。
如此柔軟！——如一握捉摸不定的灰燼
帶著一對凝視的、灼熱的眼睛。
美極了，如夢似幻的應物象形！
嗚呼天火墜地繼而尖聲呼嘯
繼而倉皇，一隻生著鱗卻柔軟的拳頭
握成一團渾然不知地頂天立地！
[The Armadillo]
(For Robert Lowell)
This is the time of year
when almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,
rising toward a saint
still honored in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.
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,
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,
receding, dwindling, solemnly
and steadily forsaking us,
or, in the downdraft from a peak,
suddenly turning dangerous.
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
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.
The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
Hastily, all alone,
a glistening armadillo left the scene,
rose-flecked, head down, tail down,
and then a baby rabbit jumped out,
short-eared, to our surprise.
So soft!--a handful of intangible ash
with fixed, ignited eyes.
Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry!
O falling fire and piercing cry
And panic, and a weak mailed fist
Clenched ignorant against the sky!