【正見網2005年08月15日】
John Keats
The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; That is the Grasshopper's -- he takes the lead In summer luxury -- he has never done With his delights; for when tired out with fun He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. The poetry of earth is ceasing never: On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever, And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills. |
Emily Dickinson
The cricket sang, And set the sun, And workmen finished, one by one, Their seam the day upon. The low grass loaded with the dew, A vastness, as a neighbor, came,-- |
by J.M. Yates
One by one The heave doors of my senses Swing open into the spring Things I spent the winter naming In the dark |
細讀了上面三首詩。比較起來,覺得Emily Dickinson的詩最有味,耐讀。她的詩的特點是:用詞簡煉,想像奇特。如將黃昏說成是一位陌生人手裡拿著帽子,黑夜又有如鄰居來訪。因為這兩個特點,使得她的詩特別,而又韻味十足。 她的詩抓形很準,象一張好的素描。
她詩中用的幾個字用的獨到,如"Set" (the sun), "Seam" (the day upon),(polite and) "new", etc.
整首詩詩味很足。而且用韻很好。每一個Stanza都有獨特之處。想一想,蟋蟀將太陽唱落;黃昏靜立著,如一個拿著帽子的陌生人,禮貌而又新奇;夜的深遠浩瀚如一位來訪的鄰居(當然這得是一位有趣的鄰居。如一種沒有面孔沒有名字的智慧,多麼詩意的畫面啊!
試譯一下。
蟋蟀歌唱 唱落了太陽 工人收工了,一個接一雙 白天就這樣合上 淺草掛滿露珠 夜的深遠浩瀚 |
濟慈的詩讀了,很溫馨清新的感覺。讀到蟈蟈我就想起自己侍弄草地花園。覺得自己象個蟈蟈。這個春天我種了幾棵鬱金香,一株杜鵑花。杜鵑花是粉色的,後來又看見還有紫色的、白色品種的。但是,園子裡已經沒有空地了,也就算了。
我已經很會割草了。周末時割一下草,做一會兒園丁是很愜意的事。我會將草地割得很好看,邊緣切割得很整齊。我還將花園的邊緣弄出曲線來,砌上邊。自己覺得很有成就。
侍弄花園就像寫文章做飯一樣,要花時間,慢慢來,才會整理得精緻。
蛐蛐原來在冬天也叫啊?讀這首詩我才知道。與家人圍爐夜話還是小時候的事了,也不記得有聽見蛐蛐的吟唱。
試著將詩譯了一下:
大地的詩篇啊永不會死亡 當所有的鳥兒在烈日下噤聲 清涼的樹蔭下,一個聲音響起 從新畦草地的一邊到另一邊 那是蟈蟈的領唱 在夏日的繁華裡,他的歡樂 永不停息。當他累了時 他就在草叢下愉快的小憩 大地的詩篇啊永不止息 |
葉慈(Yates)的詩讓我想起很久以前,也讀過一首關於蟬的現代詩,記得有這麼兩句:
明明知道只有一個夏季可活
卻拚命也要唱出埋藏在心底裡的的歌
這兩句詩不太精雅,但意思有了。「after 17 years of waiting and dormancy underground, one can imagine how much vitality and eagerness have been accumulated in these little creatures---their sense doors were once unbearably heavy (dormant), but now it's time for liberating their desires for embracing spring and life. What a painful waiting yet eventually a passionate burgeoning of a true life! Let's waltz into Spring! 」
又去查了查書,發現有很多詠蟬的詩詞。抄幾句供大家欣賞。
蟬聲將月短,草色與秋長。
散影玉階柳,含翠隱鳴蟬。微形藏葉裡,亂響出風前。
水闊盡南天,孤舟去渺然。驚秋路傍客,日暮數聲蟬。
抱葉寒蟬靜,歸來獨鳥遲。
何限倚山木,吟詩葉秋黃,蟬聲集古寺,鳥影渡寒塘。
再抄一首:
鄭巢
林疏多暮蟬,師去宿山煙。
古燈熏壁畫,秋琴潤雨弦。
竹間窺遠鶴,岩上取寒泉。
西嶽沙房在,歸期更幾年。
我現在常讀感情色彩不太強烈的詩。有一天讀到一首,前面幾句都覺平常,而且胸懷不開,唯有讀到「故國白雲遠,閒居青草生」才覺得眼前一亮。