双语诗歌|叶芝：在学童中间 Among School Children

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2018年07月27日

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Among School Children	在学童中间
Ⅰ	一
I walk through the long schoolroom questioning;	我边走边问，从长长的教室走过，
A kind old nun in a white hood replies;	一位和蔼的老修女回答着问题；
The children learn to cipher and to sing,	孩子们做算术、唱歌，
To study reading-books and history,	学习各样的读本和历史，
To cut and sew, be neat in everything	还要做精巧的手工，
In the best modern way—the children's eyes	时髦样子的那些——而孩子们
In momentary wonder stare upon	时不时地出于好奇，偷眼来看
A sixty-year-old smiling public man.	这位花甲之年的微笑着的名人。
Ⅱ	二
I dream of a Ledaean body, bent	我梦一个丽达般的身影，
Above a sinking fire, a tale that she	俯向奄奄的炉火，讲起
Told of a harsh reproof, or trivial event	一次童年所受的苛责，一件小事
That changed some childish day to tragedy—	给童心埋下阴影的一天——
Told, and it seemed that our two natures blent	待她讲完，我们两人的天性仿佛
Into a sphere from youthful sympathy,	出于年轻的同情心而合成一个球体，
Or else, to alter Plato's parable,	或者说——不妨篡改一下柏拉图的妙喻——
Into the yolk and white of the one shell.	成为同一蛋壳里的蛋黄与蛋白。
Ⅲ	三
And thinking of that fit of grief or rage	心想着那时的悲与怒，
I look upon one child or other there	我看看这个孩子，又看看那个，
And wonder if she stood so at that age—	想到她在这个年纪是否也是这般样子——
For even daughters of the swan can share	因为天鹅的女儿也会遗传
Something of every paddler's heritage—	所有鸣禽的共性——
And had that colour upon cheek or hair,	是否也有这样颜色的脸孔或发辫。
And thereupon my heart is driven wild：	心念及此，直要让我疯狂：
She stands before me as a living child.	她仿佛一个活生生的孩子在我面前。
IV	四
Her present image floats into the mind—	她现在的形象在我脑海，
Did Quattrocento finger fashion it	可是出自十五世纪大师的指端？
Hollow of cheek as though it drank the wind	那凹陷的脸颊，莫不是终日里
And took a mess of shadows for its meat?	以风影为饮食的结果？
And I though never of Ledaean kind	而我，虽非丽达般的人物，
Had pretty plumage once—enough of that,	却也有过漂亮的羽翎——够了，
Better to smile on all that smile, and show	何不以微笑面对所有微笑的人，
There is a comfortable kind of old scarecrow.	显示着老去的稻草人正过着舒心的日子。
V	五
What youthful mother, a shape upon her lap	年轻的母亲，膝上有个人形。
Honey of generation had betrayed,	受生殖蜜的捉弄，
And that must sleep, shriek, struggle to escape	必将睡眠、哭喊、挣扎着逃走，
As recollection or the drug decide,	是受制于回忆或药物的力量。
Would think her son, did she but see that shape	她会怎样看她的孩子？假如她只把那人形——
With sixty or more winters on its head,	把那头上披着六十多年寒冬的人形——
A compensation for the pang of his birth,	当作对生他时的剧痛的补偿，
Or the uncertainty of his setting forth?	或当作曾对他前程的忧虑的补偿？
VI	六
Plato thought nature but a spume that plays	柏拉图认为自然只是泡沫，
Upon a ghostly paradigm of things;	戏弄着万物幽灵般的万变；
Solider Aristotle played the taws	亚里士多德挥动着桦木条，
Upon the bottom of a king of kings;	抽打着那万王之王的屁股；
World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras	而声名显赫的毕达哥拉斯
Fingered upon a fiddle-stick or strings	从琴弦和琴弓上洞悉：
What a star sang and careless Muses heard：	那星星所唱的、无心的缪斯所听的乐曲：
Old clothes upon old sticks to scare a bird.	吓唬鸟儿的旧竹竿上的破衣。
VII	七
Both nuns and mothers worship images,	修女和母亲们都崇拜偶像，
But those the candles light are not as those	但那些烛光里的尊容
That animate a mother's reveries,	并不能激起哪位母亲的幻想，
But keep a marble or a bronze repose.	只是使石像或铜像沉静。
And yet they too break hearts—O Presences	但他们也叫人心碎——诸般形象，
That passion, piety or affection knows,	诸般激情、虔敬、爱念所熟知的形象，
And that all heavenly glory symbolise—	这些荣耀的神灵，
O self-born mockers of man's enterprise;	这些自生的人类理想的嘲弄者。
VIII	八
Labour is blossoming or dancing where	辛劳本身就是开花，就是舞蹈，
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul,	只要躯体不为取悦灵魂而伤残，
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,	只要美并非产生于绝望的念头，
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.	只要模糊的智慧并非出于熬夜到通宵。
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,	栗树啊，虬根的花树，
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?	你是叶子、是花朵、还是株干？
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,	踏着节拍的身体，发光的眼神，
How can we know the dancer from the dance?	我们怎样区分舞蹈与跳舞的人？