(版主執筆翻譯中文 / 漢學家 Professor John Balcom 校訂)

《詩人》

The Poet

有人說：”在歷史里一個詩人似乎是神聖的，但是一個詩人在隔壁便是個笑話。”這話不錯。看看古代詩人畫像，一個個的都是寬衣博帶，飄飄欲仙，好像不食人間煙火的樣子，”輞川圖”里的人物，弈棋飲酒，投壺流觴，一個個的都是儒冠羽衣，意態蕭然，我們只覺得摩詰當年，千古風流，而他在苦吟時墮入醋瓮里的那付尷尬相，并沒有人給他寫書流傳。我們憑吊浣花溪畔的工部草堂，遙想杜陵野老典衣易酒卜居茅茨之狀，吟哦滄浪，主管風騷，而他在耒陽狂啗牛炙白酒脹飫而死的景象，卻不雅觀。我們對于死人，照例是隱惡揚善，何況是古代詩人，篇章遺傳，好像是痰唾珠璣，縱然有些小小乖僻，自當加以美化，更可資為談助。王摩詰墮入醋瓮，是他自己的醋瓮，不是我們家的水缸，杜工部旅中困頓，累的是耒陽知縣，不是向我家叨擾。一般人讀詩，猶如觀劇，只是在前台欣賞，并無須廁身后台打聽優伶身世，即使刺聽得多少奇聞軼事，也只合作為梨園掌故而已。

 It is said that a dead poet is sacred whereas a poet living next door is a joke. So true! If you take a look at the portraits of ancient poets, you will find that each of them wears a loose robe and a wide belt in an airy and leisurely manner as if he or she lived a life secluded from worldly affairs. You can see, for example, in the picture The Scene of Wangchuan that all the figures are sitting in a circle around a narrow water channel with a cup floating in it. They are playing chess and drinking in turn based on where the cup stops, and they are all dressed as scholars in an easy and gracious way. Although Wang Wei has been thought to be a talented romantic for thousands of years, he once fell into a clay urn for vinegar because of his total absorption in composing a poem. It’s a pity that his awkwardness at that moment was not written about. When we visit the thatched cottage by the Wanhua river where Du Fu used to live, our mind may travel back thousands of years before when the poet, willing to live in that thatched cottage and unmindful of pawning his clothes to pay for wine, was absorbed in composing poems and lived a leisurely life. However, the way he died in Leiyan by wildly drinking and bursting his stomach is unseemly. As usual, we tend to cover up an ordinary person’s faults and publicize his merits after his death, not to mention ancient poets. The poems they wrote, handed down from generation to generation, are often regarded as exquisite pieces of writing. We often beautify poets’ eccentricities, which sometimes even serve as a good topic of conversation. The clay vinegar urn Wang Wei fell into is his, not ours. There is no need for us to worry about it. It is the magistrate of Leiyan who had to help Du Fu out of his difficulties during his stay in Leiyan. Again, this is none of our concern. For an ordinary person, reading a poem is like seeing a play, and all he or she has to do is to sit in front of the stage and enjoy the show. There is no need to go behind the stage and inquire about the backgrounds of the actors or actresses. The secrets one can get are just anecdotes, at the very most.

 

假如一個詩人住在隔壁，便不同了。雖然几乎家家門口都寫著”詩書繼世”，懂得詩的人并不多。如果我是一個名利中人，而隔壁住著一個詩人，他的大作永遠不會給我看，我看了也必以為不值一文錢，他會給我以白眼，我看看他一定也不順眼。詩人沒有常光顧理發店的，他的頭發作飛蓬狀，作獅子狗狀，作藝朮家狀。他如果是穿中裝的，一定像是算命瞎子，兩腳泥﹔他如果是穿西裝的，一定是像賣毛毯子的白俄，一身灰。他游手好閑，他白晝作夢，他無病呻吟，他有時深居簡出，閉門謝客，他有時終年流浪，到處為家，他哭笑無常，他飲食無度，他有時貧無立錐，他有時揮金似土。如果是個女詩人，她口里可以銜只大雪茄﹔如果是男的，他向各形各色的女人去膜拜。他喜歡煙、酒、小孩、花草、小動物──他看見一只老鼠可以作一首詩，他在胸口上摸出一只虱子也會作成一首詩。他的生活習慣有許多與人不同的地方。有一個人告訴我，他曾和一個詩人比鄰，有一次同出遠游，詩人未帶牙刷，據云留在家里為太太使用，問之曰：”你們原來共用一把么？”詩人大驚曰：”難道你們是各用一把么？”

 If a poet lives next door, the situation would be totally different. Few of us have an appreciation for poetry, although on the doorways of most families is pasted a Chinese couplet that reads, “Poetry and books carry the family through generations.” If I were a person pursuing fame and wealth, the poet living next to me would never show me his poems. Likewise, I would think his poems weren’t worth the paper they were written on if I had a chance to read them. In addition, the poet would cast a disdainful glance at me, and I would, in turn, regard him as an eyesore. Because a poet seldom goes to the barber’s, his hair, more often than not, looks like a mop, a Pekingese’s fur, or an artist’s shaggy hair. If a poet wears a Chinese robe, he will look like a blind fortuneteller with his shoes caked with mud. If a poet dresses in the western style, he will look like a Russian blanket dealer covered with dust. A poet tends to fool around, day-dream, and complain for no reason. Sometimes, he lives a secluded and simple life by shutting the door to avoid contacts with the outside world. Also, from time to time, he wanders from place to place all the year round. He is at home everywhere. He is moody and unpredictable. He doesn’t keep to a reasonable diet. Sometimes he lives in complete destitution, but at other times, he is lavish in spending money. A poetess may smoke cigars, while a poet may worship all kinds of women– he likes cigarettes, wine, children, flowers and animals, and he may find inspiration from a mouse or a louse he picks on his chest. A poet may have lots of strange habits. A person once told me that he took a long trip with a poet living next door. The poet didn’t bring his toothbrush because his wife needed it. Asked if he and his wife shared a toothbrush, the poet was shocked and said, ” What! You each have your own toothbrush?”

 

詩人住在隔壁，是個怪物，走在街上尤易引起誤會。伯朗寧有一首詩《當代人對詩人的觀感》，描寫一個西班牙的詩人性好觀察社會人生，以致被人誤認為是一個特務，這是何等的譏諷！他穿的是一身破舊的黑衣服，手杖敲著地，后面跟著一條禿瞎老狗，看著鞋匠修理皮鞋，看人切檸檬片放在飲料里，看焙咖啡的火盆，用半只眼睛看書攤，誰虐打牲畜誰咒罵女人都逃不了他的注意──所以他大概是個特務，把觀察所得呈報國王。看他那個模樣兒，上了點年紀，那兩道眉毛，虧他的眼睛在下面住著！鼻子的形狀和顏色都像魔爪。某甲遇難，某乙失蹤，某丙得到他的情婦──還不都是他干下的事？他費這樣大的心機，也不知得多少報酬。大家都說他回家用晚膳的時候，燈火輝煌，牆上挂著四張名畫，二十名裸體女人給他捧盤換盞。其實，這可憐的人過的乃是另一種生活，他就住在橋邊第三家，新油刷的一幢房子，全街的人都可以看見他交叉著腿，把腳放在狗背上，和他的女仆在打紙牌，吃的是酪餅水果，十點鐘就上床睡了。他死的時候還穿著那件破大衣，沒膝的泥，吃的是面包殼，髒得像一條薰魚！

 A poet living next door is an eccentric. There is every possibility that he may cause misunderstandings while walking on the street. One of Robert Browning’s poems How It Strikes a Contemporary describes a Spanish poet who had the habit of observing the world but ended up being mistaken for a spy. How ironic! In the poem, the Spanish poet, wearing a black suit, walked and tapped the pavement with his cane. An old dog, bald and blind, followed at his heels. He watched the cobbler at his trade and the man who sliced lemons and put them into his drink. He watched the coffee-roaster’s brazier and glanced at the books on the stalls with half-closed eyes. If anyone beat a horse or cursed a woman, he would take note — nothing escaped his attention. People thought he would collect these observations and report to the King. Therefore, he was thought to be a spy. His weird appearance betrayed his age. Fortunately, his eyes lived under his eyebrows! His nose, curved and colored, looked like an eagle’s claw. His reports to the King must have something to do with A’s surprising fate, B’s disappearance, and C’s meeting his mistress. What was he paid for so many pains? Everybody said he ate his supper in a room, blazing with lights. Four Titians were hung on the wall, and there were twenty naked girls serving him! On the contrary, the poor man lived another kind of life. He lived in that new, freshly painted, third house from the bridge. The whole street could see him play cribbage with his maid, leg crossing leg with one foot on the dog’s back. He ate cheese and fruit for dinner and went straight to bed at ten o’clock. He died in his old coat, with mud up to his knees. He dined on a crust as stinky as a herring.

 

這位西班牙的詩人還算是幸運的，被人當作特務，在另一個國度里，這樣一個形跡可疑的詩人可能成為特務的對象。變戲法的總要念几句咒，故弄玄虛，增加他的神秘，詩人也不免几分江湖氣，不是謫仙，就是鬼才，再不就是夢筆生花，總有几分陰陽怪氣。外國詩人更厲害，作詩時能直接的禱求神助，好像是仙靈附體的樣子。

 It is acceptable to say that the Spanish poet was lucky in that he was simply mistaken for a spy. In another country, however, a poet with such suspicious behavior might be investigated by secret agents. Magicians tend to chant incantations during their shows in order to mystify the audience. Similarly, poets always behave eccentrically. A poet is often called ‘a divinity banished from Heaven’, ‘a spirit of genius’ or ‘a prodigy’. Foreign poets are even more amazing. While composing a poem, they can get inspiration directly from the gods as if they were gods incarnate.

 

一顆沙里看出一個世界，
一朵野花里看出一個天堂，
把無限抓在你的手掌里，
把永恆放進一剎那的時光。

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand

And Eternity in an Hour.

若是沒有一點慧根的人，能說出這樣的鬼話么？你不懂？你是蠢才！你說你懂，你便可躋身于風雅之林，你究竟懂不懂，天知道。大概每個人都曾經有過做詩人的一段經驗。在“怨黃鶯兒作對，怪粉蝶兒成雙”的時節，看花謝也心驚，聽貓叫也難過，詩就會來了，如枝頭舒葉那么自然。但是入世稍深，漸漸煎熬成為一顆“煮硬了的蛋”，散文從門口進來，詩從窗口出去了。“嘴唇在不能親吻的時候才肯唱歌。”一個人如果達到相當年齡，還不失赤子之心，經風吹雨打，方寸間還能詩意盎然，他是得天獨厚，他是詩人。

 Who could say such nonsense if he or she didn’t have, say, wisdom? If you don’t understand such nonsense, you are stupid! If you claim you understand such foolishness, you are literary and cultured. Do you really understand it? Who knows! Almost everyone composes poems. There must have been a time when you envied the happy pair of orioles or butterflies, and when you were shocked at seeing flowers shed their petals or felt sad when hearing the meowing of cats. At that time, your muse came to you as naturally as leaves unfold on branchtips. However, the more involved you get in worldly affairs, the more practical you will become–just like a ‘hard boiled egg’. Therefore, prose appeals to you whereas poetry deserts you. It is said, ” Only when lips can’t kiss do they sing.” If a person is still very naïve and filled with inspiration for poetry after experiencing a lot of the world, he or she is born to be a poet.

 

詩不能賣錢，一首新詩，如拈斷數根須即能脫稿，那成本還是輕的，怕的是像牡蠣肚里的一顆明珠，那本是一塊病，經過多久的滋潤涵養才能磨煉孕育成功，寫出來到哪里去找顧主？詩不能給富人客廳里擺設作裝璜，詩不能給廣大的讀者以娛樂。富人要的是字畫珍玩，大眾要的是小說戲劇，詩，短短一橛，充篇幅都不中用。詩是這樣無用的東西，所以以詩為業的詩人，如果住在你的隔壁，自然是個笑話。將來在歷史上能否就成為神聖，也很渺茫。

 Poems are not worth a straw. If writing poems is easy for you, it will not cost you a lot. If it takes you, however, a long time and a lot of efforts to write a poem, the way it takes an oyster to secrete nacre to produce a pearl from an initial irritant, when will you find a buyer for it? The rich do not use poems as decorations in their living rooms. The general public cannot get amusement from poems. What the rich want are pieces of calligraphy, paintings, and curios. What the public needs are novels, theatre, and plays. A poem is so short that it is useless even for filling the blank spaces left in a piece of writing. Poetry is so useless that a poet living next door must be a joke, and I am sorry to say that he or she is very unlikely to enjoy fame after death.

 

 

© 英語學習網站《天地無用》- 狂飆英語的樂園