吾来看汝,汝自开落
(2010-03-05 12:04:01)
标签:
杜鹃爱默生龙应台翻译杂谈 |
分类: 读书笔记 |
上班之后,行色匆匆,加之连日凄风冷雨,任凭路边玉兰次第开落,落英横七竖八。昨天偶尔惊鸿一瞥,竟然,连樱花都开得满枝满丫了,春天的温暖在一丝丝渗入我们的感官,让人期待和风丽日,草长莺飞,万紫千红,野外踏青。
说到踏青,最开心是小时候小姑姑带我和弟弟去山上采杜鹃。我八岁那年,爸爸最亲爱的奶奶去世了,葬在了山上,接着把爸爸的爷爷的墓也迁到了旁边。之后的每年清明前后,我们一大家子都要在爷爷奶奶的带领下,浩浩荡荡去扫墓祭祖。小孩子不关注繁文缛节,一等拜好祖先,便拉着小姑姑去附近山头,到处采摘烂漫。如今连爷爷奶奶都躺在了那里,当然扫墓还在继续,只是因为忙碌,一家人各扫各的了。
前晚睡前,倚在床边读完龙应台的散文集《目送》,有一篇题为《花树》的文章,谈到爱默生的诗作《紫杜鹃》。杜鹃这个意象,配合着早春这个时节,有多少历史的和个人的记忆可以勾起?!今天把原作和译作找出来再欣赏一下,禅意绵绵。
爱默生的这首诗,若以流传于网上的通行译文去读,韵味全无,灵性尽失。抛开音律,龙应台的译文更接近于原作精神,“叶空,花满,遍缀湿地”,颇有宋词之风;后几行译的更是出彩,“若问汝何以/绝色虚掷天地/请谓之:眼为之而生/则美为美而在/与玫瑰同色/何必问缘起/吾来看汝,汝自开落/缘起同一”,若单看译文,绝想不到此诗竟为西方人所写。粗读,此译文似乎与原文大相径庭;但是咀嚼之下,还能想出更神似的吗?“On being asked, Whence is the flower?”一句,为我所补译,“自何处来”,取其佛家禅味,“自来处来,往去处去”,应该是极妥帖的。
山上的杜鹃,也在酝酿之中了吧!可是,看与不看,有何不同?暮春时节,还当花自飘零水自流。年年如此。
On being asked, Whence is the flower?
In May, when sea-winds pierced our
solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.
缘起同一