文/科來夫·詹姆斯 (澳大利亞) 珠峰譯
妳的死期,近了,一樁簡單的事。
如此慢慢地離開沒有帶來真正的痛苦。
呼吸變得短促
只是不大舒服。妳感覺得到流失的
精力。但思想和視力還在留守:
效果更好了,其實。妳什麼時候見過
細雨飄落在小樹上是如此甜美
浸濕了後花園的磚牆,
有這麼多的琥珀宮和鏡廳嗎?
暮色夕沉時從未有過的奢侈
這光亮閃耀在空氣裏。
永不結局。
不管何時雨來它都會在,
超越我的時間,現在我要享受我的福份。
是我女兒挑選的,這棵新種的日本楓樹。
秋天到來葉子將變得火紅。
我必須做到的
就是活著看見它。那時將結束我的
遊戲人生,而生命還會一如繼往:
裝滿這雙扇門來沐浴我的眼睛,
最後傾瀉而出的色彩會活下來
當我的意識煙滅,
被我意象中曾經閃亮的世界燃盡
末了是那麼明亮,然後消失不見。
(2016.1.5 珠峰譯)
JAPANESE MAPLE
by Clive James
Your death, near now, is of an easy sort.
So slow a fading out brings no real pain.
Breath growing short
Is just uncomfortable. You feel the drain
Of energy, but thought and sight remain:
Enhanced, in fact. When did you ever see
So much sweet beauty as when fine rain falls
On that small tree
And saturates your brick back garden walls,
So many Amber Rooms and mirror halls?
Ever more lavish as the dusk descends
This glistening illuminates the air.
It never ends.
Whenever the rain comes it will be there,
Beyond my time, but now I take my share.
My daughter’s choice, the maple tree is new.
Come autumn and its leaves will turn to flame.
What I must do
Is live to see that. That will end the game
For me, though life continues all the same:
Filling the double doors to bathe my eyes,
A final flood of colours will live on
As my mind dies,
Burned by my vision of a world that shone
So brightly at the last, and then was gone.
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