《英美抒情诗新译》选载（二）

傅正明

乔治·桑塔耶纳 *

给 W.P. ❶

George Santayana

To W. P.

一

海浪平息，诸君相伴出海去，

不知那海域比南海❷ 平静几许！

却难料微风陡然疾行，把多少无名伙伴

从年迈慈母泪眼裏一一夺去。

赤子灵魂熟睡时，遭此劫数，

一个个快乐朋友天界团聚，

一株株嘉树绿魂飘如浮萍，

海空静观，悄然无语。

童真遗体断了最後一口清气，

无染面对神明。何故再伤悲？

岂不知其死乃圣洁之死？

死者安息，生者不会久徘徊，

借君一生，生活焕然添美好，

借君一死，死亡从此更容易。

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，碎片带血随君飞，

只因我意林中友人如树，

君茂盛时不敌冬日风急，

叶飘零，再难重披绿衣。

教堂炉边，山路水隈，

当年亲昵已辞退，

旧情新景，不知何处觅，

晚来对镜，秋霜一日染青丝。

望中犹记心田裏，

劳君惠赠轻盈童心和善意，

亲切友爱即荣誉，

厚礼添我人生富裕。

我珍藏君之所馈，

君掳去我心碎片，孰多孰少难知。

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

君已抛锚系心舟，静待港湾裏，

直到和风催帆再度出海去，

大风为君插翅，护送灵魂

乘著黎明翱翔，融入碧天清辉。

无情却有情？天意半解半疑。

君之韶华伴我欢娱，枯萎有日，

上帝令其安息，赐予恒久恩惠，

当年乐景，永生已借去。

但忆旧时我教神思起飞，

飞向今昔宏图栖身之地，

生命永恒不熄，静静飘忽高飞，

瞥见彼岸我所爱，万千合为一，

不见生变易，不再恨别离，

不见日出日落月盈亏。

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

心底钟声和谐，长鸣不已，

为君报丧，即使嘉树尚未死去。

因为时间如面具，遮盖当年青春容颜，

兴许比死亡面具更令人悲戚。

且看那枝条，挂满硕果易脱落，

倘若枝头只有花冠，便难摧折。

几多贵　化尘埃，恰如枯树无片叶，

身後污浊，无人铭记无人献诗。

相比之下，君乃真诚赤子，

尽管後世难知君之嘉名，

史笔不会大书灾年事故，

却有稀少知音，眷恋挚友生前行迹，

无论何时长相忆。吾辈德行不厚，

愿以内美为君树立纪念碑。

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.

* 乔治·桑塔耶纳( 1863-1952)，生於西班牙的美国哲学家、美学家、诗人和作家，诗集有《十四行诗和其他诗作》（Sonnets and Other Verses, 1896)等。

❶ 这首诗最初发表於1896年。W.P. 指诗人的挚友 Warwick Potter，1893年死於船难。

❷ 指诗人所在的美国麻省的海域。

选自 傅正明译注《英美抒情诗新译（台湾商务印书馆，2012年）