2.
Return to Nature
While young, I was not used to worldly cares,
And hills became my natural compeers,
But by mistakes I fell in mundane snares
And thus entangled was for thirteen years.
A caged bird would long for wonted wood,
And fish in tanks for native pools would yearn.
Go back to till my southern fields I would.
To live a rustic life why not return?
My plot of ground is but ten acres square;
My thatched cottage has eight or nine rooms.
In front I have peach trees here and plums there;
O'er back eaves willow trees and elms cast glooms.
A village can be seen in distant dark,
Where plumes of smoke rise and waft in the breeze.
In alley deep a dog is heard to bark,
And cocks crow as if o'er mulberry trees.
Into my courtyard no one should intrude,
Nor rob my private rooms of peace and leisure.
After long years of abject servitude, Again in nature I find homely pleasure.
(许渊冲译)
3.
RETURN TO THE COUNTRYSIDE
(The First)
The world's way was not mine,
Even as a small boy.
I was happier
With fields and hills.
Seduced into an official existence
I wasted thirty summers.
Like a caged bird
Still thinking of trees and woods,
Like a fish in the pond
Never forgetting its river,
I return to the countryside,
And open the southern fields
Rather than pay court to Dignity.
I have a farm,
Only a few acres,
And a humble cottage
Of eight or nine rooms.
There are elms and willows
Out back, for shade,
And in the front court
Peaches and plums.
In the dim dusk you can see faroff villages.
Smoke from cooking fires curl high in the air.
Dogs bark, down the deep lanes,
And cicks crow in the mulberry trees.
Nothing worldly crosses my threshold:
It is a house of sweet leisure.
After a life of long servitude
How I relish my return to nature!
(丁祖馨译)
4.
Returning to My Home in the Countryside, No.1
In youth I couldn’t sing to the common tune;
it was my nature to love the mountains and hills.
By mistake I got caught in that dusty snare,
went away once and stayed thirteen years.
The winging bird longs for its old woods,
the fish in the pond thinks of the deeps it once knew.
I’ve opened up some waste land by the southern fields;
stupid as ever, I’ve come home to the country.
My house plot measure ten mou or more,
a grass roof covering eight or nine spans.
Elm and willow shade the back eaves,
peach and damson range in front of the hall.
Dim dim, a village of distant neighbours;
drifting drifting, the smoke from settlements.
A dog barks in the deep lanes,
chickens call from the tops of mulberry trees.
Around my door and courtyard, no dust or clutter;
in my empty rooms, leisure enough to spare.
After so long in that cage of mine,
I’ve come back to things as they are.
(Tranlated by Burton Watson)
5.
Returning to Live in the Country
In my youth I was out of tune with the common folk:
My nature is to love hills and mountains.
In my folly I fell into the net of the world’s dust,
And so went on for thirty years.
The caged bird longs for its old woodland;
The pond-reared fish yarns for its native stream.
I have opened up a waste plot of the south moor,
And keeping my simplicity returned to garden and field.
A homestead of some ten acres,
A thatched cottage with eight or nine rooms;
Elms and willows shading the hinder eaves;
Peach and plum trees ranking before the hall.
Dim, dim is the distant hamlet;
Lagging, lagging hangs the smoke of the market-town;
A dog barks in the deep lane;
A cock crows on the top of the mulberry tree.
My door and courtyard have no dust and turmoil;
In the bare room there is leisure to spare.
Too long a captive in a cage,
I have mow come back to Nature.
(Translated by R.H. Kotewall et al)
6.
Poems on Returning to Dwell in the Country, 1
In youth I had nothing
that matched the vulgar tone,
For my nature always
loved the hills and mountains.
Inadvertently I fell
into the Dusty Net,
Once having gone
it was more than thirteen years.
The tame bird
longs for his old forest—
The fish in the house-pond
thinks of his ancient pool.
I too will break the soil
at the edge of the southern moor,
I will guard simplicity
and return to my field and garden.
My land and house—
a little more than ten acres,
In the thatched cottage—
only eight or nine rooms.
Elms and willows
shade the back veranda,
Peach and plum trees
in rows before the hall.
Hazy and dimly seen
A village in the distance,
Close in the foreground
the smoke of neighbour’s houses.
A dog barks
amidst the deep lanes,
A cock is crowing
atop a mulberry tree.
No dust and confusion
within my doors and courtyard;
In the empty rooms,
more than sufficient leisure.
Too long I was held
within the barred cage.
Now I am able
to turn again to Nature.
(Translated by Cyril Birch)
7.
When I Was Young, I Was out of Tune with the Herd
When I was young, I was out of tune with the herd;
My only love was for the hills and mountains.
Unwitting I fell into the Web of the World’s dust
And was not free until my thirtieth year.
The migrant bird longs for the old wood;
The fish in the tank thinks of its native pool.
I had rescued from wildness a patch of Southern Moor
And, still rustic, I returned to field and garden.
My thatched cottage has eight or nine rooms.
Elms and willows cluster by the eaves;
Peach trees and plum trees grow before the Hall.
Hazy, hazy the distant hamlets of men;
Steady the smoke that hangs over cottage roofs.
A dog barks somewhere in the deep lanes,
A cock crows at the top of the mulberry tree.
At gate and courtyard –no murmur of the world’s dust;
In the empty rooms–leisure and deep stillness.
Long I lived checked by the bars of a cage;
Now I have turned again to Nature and Freedom.
(Translated by Arthur Waley)
8.
Once More Fields and Gardens
Even as a young man
I was out of tune with ordinary pleasures.
It was my nature to love the rooted hills,
The high hills which look upon the four edges of Heaven.
What folly to spend one’s life like a dropped leaf
Snared under the dust of streets,
But for thirteen years it was so lived.
The caged bird longs for the fluttering of high leaves.
The fish in the garden pool languished for
the whirled water of meeting streams.
So I desired to clear and seed a patch of
the wild Southern moor.
And always a countryman at heart,
I have come back to the square enclosures of my fields.
And to my walled garden with its quiet paths.
Mine is a little property of ten mou or so,
A thatched house of eight or nine rooms.
On the North side, the eaves are overhung
With the thick leaves elm-trees,
And willow-trees break the strong force of the wind.
On the South, in front of the great hall,
Peach-trees and plum-trees spread a net of branches
Before the distant view.
The village is hazy, hazy,
And mist sucks over the open moor.
A dog barks in the sunken lane which runs through the village,
A cock crows, perched on a clipped mulberry.
There is no dust or clatter
In the courtyard before my house.
My private rooms are quiet,
And calm with the leisure of moon light through an open door.
For a long time I lived in a cage;
Now I have returned.
For one must return
To fulfill one’s nature.
(Translated by Amy Lowell)
9.
On Returning to a Country Life (I)
My youth was spent amidst the simple charms
Of country scenes—secure from worldly din,
And then, alas! I fell into the net
Of public life, and struggled long therein.
The captive bird laments its forest home;
The fish in tanks think of the sea’s broad strands;
And I oft longed, amidst official cares,
To till a settler’s plot in sunny lands.
And now I have my plot of fifteen mou,
With house thereon of rustic build and thatch;
The elm and willow cast a grateful shade,
While plum and peach trees full the entrance patch.
Away from busy towns and dusty marts,
The dog barks in the silent country land;
While chicken cluck among the mulberry-tree,
And life is healthy and the mined is sane.
Here in my house—with room for friend or two,
On my own farm—won from the barren plain,
Escaped from cares of office and routine,
I live a free and natural life again.
(Translated by Charles Budd)
10.
Back to Garden and Fields
Unfit for worldly things ever since my youthful days,
I love by nature mountains and hills.
Fallen by error into earthly net,
There I remained for a score of years and ten.
A bird in the cage pines for its old forest,
A fish in the pond longs for its original source.
Now I grub up the weeds in the southern countryside,
Living humbly among gardens and rice fields.
On an area of over ten mou,
I built a house with a thatched roof.
Elms and willows spread their shade over the back eaves,
Peach and plum trees grow in front of my house.
Dimly loom the distant villages,
Gracefully curls the chimney smoke.
Dogs bark in the deep lane,
Cocks crow on the top of mulberry trees.
No noise in my house or in the courtyard
But plenty of leisure in my spacious chambers
Having long lived in a cage,
Finally I returned to nature.
(Translated by Patricial Pin-ching Hu)
11.
Returning to My Farm
Young I was witless in the world’s affairs,
My nature wildness and hills prefers;
By mishap fallen into mundane snares,
Once I had left I wasted thirty years.
Birds in the cage long for their wonted woods,
Fish in the pool for former rivers yearn.
I clear the wildness that stretches south,
Hiding my defects homeward I return.
Ten acres built with scattered house square,
Beside the thatched huts eight or nine in all;
The elms and willows shade the hindmost eaves,
While peach and pear-trees spread before the hall.
While smoke form nearby huts hangs in the breeze;
A dog is barking in the alley deep;
A cock crows from the chump of mulberry trees.
Within my courtyard all is clear of dust,
Where tranquil in my leisure I remain.
Long have I been imprisoned in the cage;
Now back to Nature I return again.
(Translated by Andrew Boyd)
12.
Back to the Garden and Fields (1)
From my youth I have loved the hills and mountains,
Never was my nature suited fir the world of men,
By mistake have I been entangled in the dusty web,
Lost in its snare for thirteen long years.
The fettered bird longs for its old wood,
The fish in the pond craves for its early pool.
Back to my land I cling to solitude,
To till the soil in the open south country.
My plot of ground is only a few acres square,
The thatched roof covers eight or nine rooms,
The back eaves are shaded by elms and willows,
Rows of peach-and plum-trees stand in my front court.
The hamlets spread out in the hazy distance,
Where chimney smokes seem to waft in mid-air;
And the dog barks in the deep lane,
And the cock crows on the mulberry top.
In the vacant rooms there is ease and quiet.
Long have I lain within the prison of men,
Now I am to return to nature and its ways.
(Translated by Roland C. Fang)
现在我白天就出去,无目的地游来荡去,找寻着我也不知什么,这时魔鬼把一个圈套安在我的路上,其性质十分可怕,我过去和后来都从未再碰过。我走过奥台斯门街的时候,看见一个漂亮的小女孩从舞蹈学校出来,独白一人回家。我心里的魔鬼挑起了我的坏心,叫我对这天真的孩子下手。我就同她说话,她喁喁地回答我,我握住她的手,领着她走进一条石子铺的小巷,从那里又进到巴索罗缪场地。孩子说那不是她回家的路,我说是的,亲爱的,我会把你带到家的。孩子戴着一条金项链,我早巳看中了,在小巷黑暗的地方我弯下身来,装着是替她系好松了的木鞋,随手把项链摘了下来,孩子一点儿也没觉察。我领着她再往前走。这时我心里的恶鬼要我在黑巷里把孩子掐死,那里不怕她呻喊——可是这一念头太可怕了,叫我腿都发软了,我让孩子转过身来,说是路走错了,她该走原路回去,孩子也说她自己会走了。于是我穿过巴索罗缪场地,从另一个通道进入朗巷,再走到渣特霍斯方场,进入圣约翰街,接着越过司密斯园,直下乞克巷,进入莽尔德巷,到达荷尔本桥,在那里混入人群,再也不怕给人认出了。就这样,我对大世界作了第二次的进击。
这里面有许多意想不到的笔触,摩尔弯身为女孩系带就是其一,使得情节更加生动,而居然想要在黑巷杀死女孩,又使故事增加了可怕的阴影,摩尔的起念、转念也使读者更加了解她的为人。就连最后一连串的街名也是有其作用的:表明行踪的迂回曲折,表明经历困难不少,最后又表明这一切确确实实发生在伦敦的闹市地区,任何久居的伦敦的人一看就感到亲切的。
摘自《英国散文的流变》