（Billy Collins， 1941 - ）

致我最爱的17岁高中女孩

 （美）比利·柯林斯

    舒啸译

你是否意识到，如果你从出生那天起

即开始建造帕台农神庙

再有区区一年，你就能大功告毕？

当然，建成它不可能全凭你一己之力

所以，不管它了，你这样挺好

大家爱你，就是因为你是你。

可是，你是否知道在你的年纪，

朱迪·嘉兰拍一部片就拿美金十五万

圣女贞德正在率领法国军队走向胜利

而帕斯卡已经自已收拾房间 --

噢，不对，他是发明了计算器。

当然，在你未来的年月会有时间成就大事

那是等你从自己的房间出来

开始如花绽放，或者至少捡起你到处都是的袜子。

不知怎地，我总是记起简·格雷

年仅十五岁时就成了英国女王

可是，她后来被砍了头，所以别想着她来做榜样。

几个世纪之后，还在你这么大

舒伯特已经为全家洗碗

而这并没妨碍他年纪轻轻地谱写两部交响曲

四部歌剧，和两部完整的弥撒

当然了，那是在奥地利，浪漫抒情时期的顶点

不是在这儿，克利夫兰的郊区。

坦白讲，谁又在乎安妮·欧克利十五岁就弹无虚发

或者玛利亚·卡拉斯十七岁登台出演托斯卡。

你把弄着自己的食物，出神凝视，你是你自己

我们觉得这就特了不起

对了，舒伯特刷碗是我胡编乱造

但并不意味着他从未在家务上伸手出力。

译记：这位有teenager爱女的老爸显然是希望女儿不要整天把自己关在自己房间，希望女儿能做些家务、至少捡起自己乱扔的袜子，希望女儿在餐桌上不要把弄自己的食物发呆，也希望女儿有所作为。

但是，他知道17岁的女儿不会那么“听话”，或许还会逆反。或是出于对女儿的爱，或是有足够的智慧，他知道不能对女儿严辞责命，但又不知道究竟该如何交流。

他想用一众著名的17岁（或以下）历史人物来“激励“女儿，却明知未必奏效，更担心产生“副作用”。

转了半天弯子，最后说的就是：你特殊、你这样挺好、我们爱你。

吞吞吐吐、欲言又止、止而又忍不住欲言，混合了几分期待、几分责备、几分无奈、和（更多的）浓浓爱意。于是这首诗也就是既幽默又深情。

Billy Collins 原诗：

To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl 

Do you realize that if you had started

building the Parthenon on the day you were born

you would be all done in only one more year?

Of course, you couldn't have done it alone,

so never mind, you're fine just as you are.

You are loved for simply being yourself.

But did you know that at your age Judy Garland

was pulling down $150,000 a picture,

Joan of Arc was leading the French army to victory,

and Blaise Pascal had cleaned up his room?

No wait. He had invented the calculator.

Of course there will be time for that later in your life

after you come out of your room

and begin to blossom, or at least pick up all your socks.

For some reason, I keep remembering that Lady Jane Grey,

was Queen of England when she was only fifteen,

but then she was beheaded, so never mind her as a role model.

A few centuries later, when he was your age,

Franz Schubert was doing the dishes for his family

but that did not keep him from composing two symphonies,

four operas, and two complete Masses as a youngster.

But of course that was in Austria at the height

of romantic lyricism, not here in the suburbs of Cleveland.

Frankly, who cares if Annie Oakley was a crack shot at 15

or if Maria Callas debuted at Tosca at 17?

We think you are special by just being you,

playing with your food and staring into space.

By the way, I lied about Schubert doing the dishes,

but that doesn't mean he never helped out around the house.