Going to Him! Happy letter!
找他去,幸福的信!
Going to Him! Happy letter!
Tell Him -
Tell Him the page I didn't write -
Tell Him - I only said the Syntax -
And left the Verb and the pronoun out -
Tell Him just how the fingers hurried -
Then - how they waded - slow - slow -
And then you wished you had eyes in your pages -
So you could see what moved them so -
找他去,幸福的信!
去告诉他 ——
告诉他我并未写出的那一页 ——
告诉他,我只说出了句法 ——
动词和代词全都省略 ——
告诉他手指多么急促 ——
然后移动困难,变得很慢,很慢 ——
这时你恨不得在你的页面长出眼睛 ——
好看清是什么使得他们这样 ——
Tell Him - it wasn't a Practised Writer -
You guessed - from the way the sentence toiled -
You could hear the Bodice tug, behind you -
As if it held but the might of a child -
You almost pitied it - you - it worked so -
Tell Him - no - you may quibble there -
For it would split His Heart, to know it -
And then you and I, were silenter.
告诉他,这不是一个写作老手 ——
你已猜出,因为句子写得费力 ——
你听见你后面的女式胸衣在用劲 ——
仿佛那里面只装着一个孩子的气力 ——
你几乎要可怜它了,是你,使它尝此艰辛 ——
告诉他,不,在这里,可以含糊些 ——
因为他知道了,会伤心的 ——
于是你和我,越发只能沉默。
Tell Him - Night finished - before we finished -
And the Old Clock kept neighing "Day"!
And you - got sleepy - and begged to be ended -
What could it hinder so - to say?
告诉他,信未写完,长夜已尽 ——
那老自鸣钟不断嘶鸣着“天亮”!
而你,感到了困倦,恳求着结束 ——
什么又能妨碍它,这样说?
Tell Him - just how she sealed you - Cautious!
But - if He ask where you are hid
Until tomorrow - Happy letter!
Gesture Coquette - and shake your Head!
告诉他,她是怎样把你封好 —— 十分谨慎!
但是,如果他问起你,然后
怎样把你藏到明天,幸福的信!
做出一副撒娇的表情,摇摇头!
(注:同时誊清的另一稿,与这一稿几乎完全相同,但是代词“他”改成了“她”。)
作者简介
艾米莉·狄金森(Emily Dickinson,1830年12月10日—1886年5月15日),美国传奇诗人,出生于律师家庭,青少年时代生活单调而平静受正规宗教教育。从二十五岁开始弃绝社交,在孤独中埋头写诗三十年,留下诗稿一千七百余首;生前只是发表过七首,其余的都是她死后才出版,并被世人所知,名气极大。她被视为二十世纪现代主义诗歌的先驱之一。
她深锁在盒子里的大量创作诗篇是她留给世人的最大礼物。在她有生之年,她的作品未能获得青睐,然而周遭众人对她的不解与误会,却丝毫无法低损她丰富的创作天分。
狄金森的诗主要写生活情趣、自然、生命、信仰、友谊、爱情。诗风凝练婉约、意象清新,描绘真切、精微,思想深沉、凝聚力强,极富独创性。