微光：悖论言说

闲来动手翻译米沃什的英文诗歌，翻译得不好，请高手指教。

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At a Certain Age      

by Czeslaw Milosz

We wanted to confess our sins but there were no takers.
White clouds refused to accept them, and the wind
Was too busy visiting sea after sea.
We did not succeed in interesting the animals.
Dogs, disappointed, expected an order,
A cat, as always immoral, was falling asleep.
A person seemingly very close
Did not care to hear of things long past.
Conversations with friends over vodka or coffee
Ought not be prolonged beyond the first sign of boredom.
It would be humiliating to pay by the hour
A man with a diploma, just for listening.
Churches. Perhaps churches. But to confess there what?
That we used to see ourselves as handsome and noble
Yet later in our place an ugly toad
Half-opens its thick eyelid
And one sees clearly: "That's me."

在某个时代

我们想忏悔我们的罪过但却无人领受。
白云拒绝接受，而风
正忙于拜访一片又一片的大海。
我们也没能引起动物们的兴趣。
狗，充满了失望，期待着一声号令，
猫，则总是随心所欲，正在呼呼大睡。
一个似乎亲密无间的人
却不想听那些陈年的往事。
喝着伏特加或者咖啡，朋友间的对话
不应超过那第一个厌烦的表情。
计时付费给一个有文凭的人，仅是为了要他的倾听
那将是一件可耻的事情。
教堂。也许可以去教堂。但在那里又能忏悔什么？
在那里我们常常自视为端庄而高贵的人
但很快在私下里却变成一只丑恶的蛤蟆
半耷拉着厚重的眼皮
而人们看得一清二楚：“那就是我。”

Study Of Loneliness  

by Czeslaw Milosz

A guardian of long-distance conduits in the desert?
A one-man crew of a fortress in the sand?
Whoever he was. At dawn he saw furrowed mountains
The color of ashes, above the melting darkness,
Saturated with violet, breaking into fluid rouge,
Till they stood, immense, in the orange light.
Day after day. And, before he noticed, year after year.
For whom, he thought, that splendor? For me alone?
Yet it will be here long after I perish.
What is it in the eye of a lizard? Or when seen by a migrant bird?
If I am all mankind, are they themselves without me?
And he knew there was no use crying out, for none of them would save him.

研习孤独

是荒漠中漫长水道的守护者？
还是沙堆要塞中一个人组成的卫队？
无论他是谁。拂晓时，他看到起伏的层峦叠嶂
是灰烬的色彩，在消融的黑暗之上，
充满了紫色，继而分解为流淌的胭脂般的红，
直到它们矗立在无尽的橙色光芒之中。
日复一日。而在他注意到这一切之前，已是年复一年。
他想，那壮丽的景色是为谁而准备？只为我吗？
然而，在我死去很久之后，它将依然在这里。
在一只蜥蜴的眼里，它是何种模样？在一只候鸟的眼里又是什么？
如果我就是整个人类，那么没有了我他们还会是他们自己吗？
而他知道呼喊是无用的，因为他们中无人能够拯救他。

A Task

by Czeslaw Milosz

In fear and trembling, I think I would fulfill my life
Only if I brought myself to make a public confession
Revealing a sham, my own and of my epoch:
We were permitted to shriek in the tongue of dwarfs and demons
But pure and generous words were forbidden
Under so stiff a penalty that whoever dared to pronounce one
Considered himself as a lost man.

任务

在恐惧和颤栗中，我想我只有当众作出忏悔
揭露我自己以及我所处时代的骗局
我才能够完成我这一生：
我们获准用侏儒和魔鬼的嗓音嚎叫
但纯洁和善良的话却被禁止了
惩罚是如此严酷，还有谁敢宣称
他觉得自己是一个迷失的人。