R·S·托马斯：十三只乌鸦观望一个男人

十三只乌鸦观望一个男人

1
很安静。
像是我们
曾住在一座园子里
那善与恶
的认知还没有
到来。
但有一个男人在其中。

2
将有雨
垂落
从寻常的
天空。那人的脸
会从它的窗栏
后面凝望，
他不喜欢这雨。

3
没有什么高过
一个黑莓
树丛。当太阳
初升，那从地平线
延伸向地平线的
黑暗是什么？是荫影
那个叉状男人的。

4
我们已经吃掉
那些黑莓并吐出了
籽，但它们躺着
闪亮如一个男人的眼睛。

5
当我们停住
歌唱，园子荡起了
回声。是那个
男人在吹口哨，期待着
一切为他来临。

6
我们在树枝上
擦抹嘴巴
徒耗黎明的
珠宝去清除
一个男人的味道。

7
尽管如此，
没啥大不了的
只是一个人，我们的
账单不会带来麻烦。

8
谁说过这
数字不吉利？
是一个男人，那个
试图避开我们的，
他曾使自己的许可被获准
十三次。

9
天起凉风
的时候那园子
似乎交给了
乌鸦。然而
我们也知道某处
藏着一个男人。

10
对于我们，有
蛋就有
乌鸦。但那人在此，
竟也，试图无羽
而孵出方案。

11
我们伸展
翅膀，盘旋于
自己的领空。一个男人站在
我们之下痴想
能做同样的事情。

12
每当夜晚降临
如来自太空
的访客
我们就闭塞耳朵
免得听到讲说
那个月光中的男人。

13
夏天到
头了。候鸟
离去。当它们开春
返回这园子时，
可会有一个男人在它们当中？

( 翻译：大河原 )

Thirteen Blackbirds Looking At A Man

I
It is calm.
It is as though
we lived in a garden
that had not yet arrived
at the knowledge of
good and evil.
But there is a man in it.

II
There will be
rain falling vertically
from an indifferent
sky. There will stare out
from behind its
bars the face of the man
who is not enjoying it.

III
Nothing higher
than a blackberry
bush. As the sun comes up
fresh, what is the darkness
stretching from horizon
to horizon? It is the shadow
here of the forked man.

IV
We have eaten
the blackberries and spat out
the seeds, but they lie
glittering like the eyes of a man.

V
After we have stopped
singing, the garden is disturbed
by echoes. It is
the man whistling, expecting
everything to come to him.

VI
We wipe our beaks
on the branches
wasting the dawn’s
jewellery to get rid
of the taste of a man.

VII
Nevertheless,
which is not the case
with a man, our
bills give us no trouble.

VIII
Who said the
number was unlucky?
It was a man, who,
trying to pass us,
had his licence endorsed
thirteen times.

IX
In the cool
of the day the garden
seems given over
to blackbirds. Yet
we know also that somewhere
there is a man in hiding.

X
To us there are
eggs and there are
blackbirds. But there is the man,
too, trying without feathers
to incubate a solution.

XI
We spread our
wings, reticulating
our air space. A man stands
under us and worries
at his ability to do the same.

XII
When night comes
like a visitor
from outer space
we stop our ears
lest we should hear tell
of the man in the moon.

XIII
Summer is
at an end. The migrants
depart. When they return
in spring to the garden,
will there be a man among them?