Margaret Atwood 两首
译者：star-gazer
·夜之歌
没有什么可怕的
那不过是风
转从东面而来，那不过是
你的雷霆之父
你的雨水之母
在这水的国度
有潮湿得如一株蘑菇的棕月
有溺水的残枝和会游水的长鸟
那里青苔遍生于树干的八面
而你的影子是你自身的折射
并非那影子本身
帘幕遮住房门的一刻
你的生父生母消失了踪影
我们是些旁人
是从湖底而来
有黑暗的头颅
我们站在你的床边沉默不语
我们来替你盖上
那红色的羊毛
和我们的眼泪还有些遥远的低语
当雨的手臂轻摇着你
寒冷的睡眠之舟
我们伺立于侧，你的夜的
父母
有冰冷的双手和熄灭的灯火
我们深知自身不过
是一根蜡烛投射出来的
摇曳的幻影，在二十年后
你将听到的回声中
·睡字的变奏
我渴望看你沉睡
也许这不会发生
我渴望看你
沉睡，渴望睡在你的身边
当睡眠平静的黑潮
滑过我的头顶，我
渴望走进你的梦寐
并同你一起穿越那明亮的
有蓝绿叶影摇曳
有似水阳光和三个月亮的丛林
去那你注定要进入的洞穴
去面对你最深的恐惧
我渴望给你那银枝，
那纤小的白花，那可以让你远离
来自梦境中央的忧伤的一个字
我渴望可以再次
跟随你一起蹬上那长长的阶梯
渴望成为那只小心翼翼带你回归的木舟
渴望成为那围拢双掌中的一朵火焰
引你至我们共睡的地方
让你的进入如呼吸般轻易
我渴望成为你周遭的空气
只要片刻便就足矣。 我渴望成为那熟视无睹
那必不可缺
Night Poem
There is nothing to be afraid of,
it is only the wind
changing to the east, it is only
your father the thunder
your mother the rainIn this country of water
with its beige moon damp as a mushroom,
its drowned stumps and long birds
that swim, where the moss grows
on all sides of the trees
and your shadow is not your shadow
but your reflection,
your true parents disappear
when the curtain covers your door.
We are the others,
the ones from under the lake
who stand silently beside your bed
with our heads of darkness.
We have come to cover you
with red wool,
with our tears and distant whispers.
Your rock in the rain's arms,
the chilly ark of your sleep,
while we wait, your night
father and mother,
with our cold hands and dead flashlight,
knowing we are only
the wavering shadows thrown
by one candle, in this echo
you will hear twenty years later.·Variation On The Word Sleep
I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head
and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear
I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and as you enter
it as easily as breathing in
I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.