艾米莉·狄金森与她父亲的朋友和同事洛德法官的恋情曾在一些文献中提到。在洛德法官的妻子去世后,他与艾米莉两情相悦的亲密关系开始于1878年初,当时她已经47岁,他65岁。洛德法官曾经希望与艾米莉结婚,可是受到了拒绝。那时,艾米莉已经不再年轻,她深知,婚姻意味着女子要放弃自己的独立,她不希望承担社会为女子制定的妻子和母亲的角色。她从小就看着自己软弱、无主见的母亲对丈夫绝对服从却得不到半点垂怜和温存,这大概也渐渐地压制了她步入婚姻的想法,但掩盖不了她对婚姻的憧憬。在1884年,艾米莉写过一首以新娘自居而语涉“拥有”和“被拥有”的不寻常的诗“Circumference thou Bride of Awe(敬畏的新娘在你身边)”,是写给洛德的,她以古诗的形式表达了对成为“你”的新娘,拥有“你”并且爱“你”的渴望,再次表达了对爱的追求。[4]
一般大众及多数的评论家都给这些诗作相当高的评价。到了1896年,艾米莉·狄金森已成为家喻户晓的知名诗人。之后更多的作品,包括许多由其它管道收集的诗作,在接下来的50年大量地出现,但直到1995年全三册的定本才由汤玛斯·约翰森(Thomas H.Johnson)审定出版。这本书一共收集了1775首诗以及一些断简残编,并依照时间顺序编辑排足,由哈佛大学出版社的贝尔耐出版部(Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)出版。
我从未看过荒原--
我从未看过海洋--
可我知道石楠的容貌
和狂涛巨浪。
我从未与上帝交谈
也不曾拜访过天堂--
可我好像已通过检查
一定会到那个地方 。
I never saw a moor
I never saw a Moor--
I never saw the Sea--
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.
I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven--
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given--
云暗
天低又复云暗,
飞过雪花一片。
穿越车辙马圈,
去留择决艰难。
谁人这样待风,
令其整天抱怨。
自然犹如我等,
时常没戴皇冠。
Be clouded
THE sky is low, the clouds are mean,
A travelling flake of snow
Across a barn or through a rut
Debates if it will go.
A narrow wind complains all day
How some one treated him;
Nature, like us, is sometimes caught
Without her diadem.
我是无名之辈!
我是无名之辈! 你是谁?
你也是无名之辈吗?
那么我们为一对!
别说! 他们会传开去-- 你知道!
多无聊-- 是-- 某某名人!
多招摇-- 象个青蛙--
告诉你的名字 -- 漫长的六月--
给一片赞赏的沼泽!
I’M Nobody! Who are you?
I’M Nobody! Who are you?
Are you--Nobody--too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don't tell! They’d advertise--you know!
How dreary--to be--Somebody!
How public--like a Frog--
To tell your name--the livelong June--
To an admiring Bog!
“信念” 是微妙发明
“信念” 是个微妙的发明
当绅士们能看见的时候--
但显微镜却是谨慎的
在紧急的时候。
"Faith" is a fine invention
"FAITH" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see--
But Microsopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
逃亡
我一听说"逃亡"这个词
血液就加快奔流,
一个突然的期望,
一个想飞的冲动。
我从未听说敞开的监狱
被战士们攻陷,
但我幼稚的用力拖我的围栏--
只不过再失败!
Escape
I NEVER hear the word "escape"
Without a quicker blood,
A sudden expectation,
A flying attitude.
I never hear of prisons broad
by soldiers battered down,
But I tug childish at my bars--
Only to fail again!
希望
" 希望" 是物长着羽毛
寄居在灵魂里,
唱着没有词的曲调,
绝无丝毫停息,
微风吹送最为甘甜
暴雨致痛无疑
能够使得小鸟不安
保有此多暖意。
听它越过奇妙大海
飞遍严寒田地
可它不要我面包屑
哪怕饥饿至极。
"Hope"
"HOPE" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest Sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of Me.
Emily Dickinson (1861)
心先要求愉快
心先要求愉快
再要求免除疼痛;
其后,要那些小止痛片
来减轻苦痛;
然后,要求睡觉;
如它法官的愿望
而后应当是
要求去死的自由。
The heart asks pleasure first
The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering;
And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.
补偿
为每一个狂喜的瞬间
我们必须偿以痛苦至极,
刺痛和震颤
正比于狂喜。
为每一个可爱的时刻
必偿以多年的微薄薪饷,
辛酸争夺来的半分八厘
和浸满泪水的钱箱。
Compensation
For each ecstatic instant
We must an anguish pay
In keen and quivering ratio
To the ecstasy.
For each beloved hour
Sharp pittances of years,
Bitter contested farthings
And coffers heaped with tears.
战场
他们雪片般落下,他们流星般落下,
象一朵玫瑰花的花瓣纷纷落下,
当风的手指忽然间
穿划过六月初夏。
在眼睛不能发现的地方,--
他们凋零于不透缝隙的草丛;
但上帝摊开他无赦的名单
依然能传唤每一副面孔。
The Battlefield
They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars,
Like petals from a rose,
When suddenly across the June
A wind with fingers goes.
They perished in the seamless grass, --
No eye could find the place;
But God on his repealless list
Can summon every face.
我没有时间憎恨
我没有时间憎恨,因为
坟墓会将我阻止,
而生命并非如此简单
能使我敌意终止。
我也没时间去爱,
仅因为必须有点勤奋,
我以为爱的那少许辛苦
对我已是足够莫大难忍。
I had no time to hate, because
I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.
Nor had I time to love, but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.
我的河儿流向你
我的河儿流向你--
蓝色的海! 会否欢迎我?
我的河儿待回响--
大海啊--样子亲切慈祥--
我将给你请来小溪
从弄污的角落里--
说呀--大海--接纳我!
(162)
My River runs to thee—
Blue Sea! Wilt welcome me?
My River waits reply—
Oh sea—look graciously—
I’ll fetch thee Brooks
From spotted nooks—
Say—Sea—Take me!
我的朋友
我的朋友肯定是只鸟--
因为它飞翔!
我的朋友肯定是个人,
因它会死亡!
它有倒刺,象蜜蜂一样!
哦,古怪的朋友啊!
你使我迷茫!
My friend must be a Bird--
Because it flies!
Mortal, my friend must be,
Because it dies!
Barbs has it, like a Bee!
Ah, curious friend!
Thou puzzlest me!
天堂是个医生吗
天堂是个医生吗?
他们说他能治病;
但死后的医药
是没有效用的。
天堂是国库吗?
他们谈及我们欠的债;
可是那谈判
我没参加。
Is Heaven a Physician?
Is Heaven a Physician?
They say that He can heal -
But Medicine Posthumous
Is unavailable -
Is Heaven an Exchequer?
They speak of what we owe -
But that negotiation
I’m not a Party to -
剧痛在于特征上
剧痛在于特征上
急切在于那迹象
告别的狂喜
称之为“死亡”
当去忍受成长
苦恼就因之遭遇
我知道许可已经给予
去与同类团聚
(71)
A throe upon the features -
A hurry in the breath -
An ecstasy of parting
Denominated “Death” -
An anguish at the mention
Which when to patience grown,
I’ve known permission given
To rejoin its own.
痛之神秘
痛有一个空白的元素;
不能够记起
当它开始,或如有一天
当它不是痛时。
它没有未来只有自己,
包含它无限的领地
它是过去,开明的去感知
新的痛的周期。
The Mystery of Pain
Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.
It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.
对人类而言太晚
对人类而言太晚
可对于上帝还早
创世,虚弱无力的帮助
可剩下的,我们还能够祈祷
当地上不能存在
天堂是何等美妙
那时,我们老邻居上帝的表情
会多么好客,殷勤,周到
It was too late for Man -
But early, yet for God -
Creation - impotent to help -
But Prayer - remained - Our Side -
How excellent the Heaven -
When Earth - cannot be had -
How hospitable - then - the face
Of our Old Neighbor God -
去天堂!
去天堂!
我不知何时-
请千万别问我怎样!
我实在太惊讶
想不出回答你!
去天堂!
多么黯淡悲凉!
可是必将做到
就象羊群夜晚一定回家
给牧羊人来关照!
也许你也正在去!
谁知道呢?
假若你要先到那里
就请为我保留一小块空间
靠近我失去的两位亲人-
那最小的“睡袍”对我会合适
和仅仅一点点“花冠”-
你知道当我们回家
我们不在意穿着
我很高兴我不信它
因它会停止我的呼吸-
而我愿意多看上一眼
这样一个稀奇古怪的尘世!
我很高兴他们信它
他们我再没有找到过
自从那伟大的秋天的午后
我在地底下离开他们。
(79)
Going to Heaven!
I don’t know when -
Pray do not ask me how!
Indeed I’m too astonished
To think of answering you!
Going to Heaven!
How dim it sounds!
And yet it will be done
As sure as flocks go home at night
Unto the Shepherd’s arm!
Perhaps you’re going too!
Who knows?
If you should get there first
Save just a little space for me
Close to the two I lost -
The smallest “Robe” will fit me
And just a bit of “Crown” -
For you know we do not mind our dress
When we are going home -
I’m glad I don’t believe it
For it would stop my breath -
And I’d like to look a little more
At such a curious Earth!
I’m glad they did believe it
Whom I have never found
Since the mighty Autumn afternoon
I left them in the ground.
谁是东方
谁是东方?
金黄之人
他许是紫红之人
携带日出
谁是西方?
紫红之人
他许是金黄之人
载送日落
Who is the East?
The Yellow Man
Who may be Purple if He can
That carries in the Sun.
Who is the West?
The Purple Man
Who may be Yellow if He can
That lets Him out again.
它是个这样小的小船
它是个这样小的小船
东倒西歪下了港湾!
何等雄浑壮观的大海
吸引着它离远!
如此贪婪强烈的波浪
拍打着它离开海岸;
未曾猜到这庄严宏伟的风帆
我的手工小船还是迷失不见!
(107)
‘Twas such a little - little boat
That toddled down the bay!
‘Twas such a gallant - gallant sea
That beckoned it away!
‘Twas such a greedy - greedy wave
That licked it from the Coast -
Nor ever guessed the stately sails
My little craft was lost!
我信守我的誓言
我信守我的誓言。
我未曾被召唤-
死神没有通知我,
我带着我的玫瑰。
我再次发誓,
以每只神圣的蜜蜂-
以从山坡唤来的雏菊-
以来自小巷的食米鸟的名义。
花朵和我-
她的誓言和我的-
一定将再来一次。
I keep my pledge.
I was not called -
Death did not notice me.
I bring my Rose.
I plight again,
By every sainted Bee -
By Daisy called from hillside -
By Bobolink from lane.
Blossom and I -
Her oath, and mine -
Will surely come again.
天使
天使,在清晨时分
许在露中看到她们,
弯腰-采摘-微笑-飞翔-
难道这花蕾属于她们?
天使,当烈日如火
许在沙中看到她们
弯腰-采摘-微笑-飞翔-
她们带走的花儿已烤成干身。
Angels, in the early morning
May be seen the Dews among,
Stooping - plucking - smiling - flying -
Do the Buds to them belong?
Angels, when the sun is hottest
May be seen the sands among,
Stooping - plucking - smiling - flying -
Parched the flowers they bear along.作者: 金银花 时间: 2016-7-19 15:28
七月回答
七月回答
哪里是蜜蜂
哪里是红色
哪里是干草?
啊,七月说
哪里是种子
哪里是萌芽
哪里是五月
我让你回答
不-五月说
示我白雪
示我钟铃
示我松鸦!
挑剔的松鸦
哪里是玉米
哪里是薄雾
哪里是芒刺?
这里,年说到。
Answer July -
Where is the Bee -
Where is the Blush -
Where is the Hay?
Ah, said July -
Where is the Seed -
Where is the Bud -
Where is the May -
Answer Thee - Me -
Nay - said the May -
Show me the Snow -
Show me the Bells -
Show me the Jay!
Quibbled the Jay -
Where be the Maize -
Where be the Haze -
Where be the Bur?
Here - said the year -[6]