奥登的诗6首（姜海舟译）

威斯坦·休·奥登 Wystan Hugh Auden，1907年2月21日－1973年9月29日，英国-美国诗人，20世纪重要的文学家之一，他的诗集，如 死亡之舞（1933年）和 双重人（1941年）中的诗篇，奠定了他在20世纪文坛上的重要地位。

At Last the Secret is Out

At last the secret is out,

as it always must come in the end,

the delicious story is ripe to tell

to tell to the intimate friend;

over the tea-cups and into the square

the tongues has its desire;

still waters run deep, my dear,

there's never smoke without fire.

Behind the corpse in the reservoir,

behind the ghost on the links,

behind the lady who dances

and the man who madly drinks,

under the look of fatigue

the attack of migraine and the sigh

there is always another story,

there is more than meets the eye.

For the clear voice suddenly singing,

high up in the convent wall,

the scent of the elder bushes,

the sporting prints in the hall,

the croquet matches in summer,

the handshake, the cough, the kiss,

there is always a wicked secret,

a private reason for this.

还是露了天机

 

还是露了天机，

正如通常的结局，

美妙的故事可以

告知密友；

从茶叙到广场

舌头有它的欲望；

静水流深，亲爱的，

无风不起浪啊。

水库浮尸的背后，

沙丘鬼魂的背后，

跳舞的女士背后，

和狂饮的丈夫背后，

在疲乏的外表下

偏头痛发作，叹息

是总有另一番解释，

比看上去要复杂。

为突如其来的清澈歌声，

庵墙的高处，

年长的灌木丛的气味，

门厅里的体育印刷物，

夏季槌球赛，

握手，咳嗽，接吻，

那里总有缺德的秘密，

理由是隐私。

August 1968

The Ogre does what ogres can,

Deeds quite impossible for Man,

But one prize is beyond his reach,

The Ogre cannot master Speech:

About a subjugated plain,

Among its desperate and slain,

The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,

While drivel gushes from his lips.

1968年8月

 

食人魔尽其职，

履行着人的灾难，

可有一样它无法捕获，

食人魔不会演说：

关于一片征服的平原，

在绝望和屠杀中，

食人魔用它屁股上的手说话，

它的口水从嘴唇涌出。

Base Words Are Uttered

Base words are uttered only by the base

And can for such at once be understood,

But noble platitudes:--ah, there's a case

Where the most careful scrutiny is needed

To tell a voice that's genuinely good

From one that's base but merely has succeeded.

基本意思已经说出

 

基本意思只能用基本的方法说出

这样能马上被听懂，

但高贵的陈词：──嗯，这是个问题

需要最仔细的审视

一个确实好的声音

由某个基本的但刚刚够格的人讲出。

Nocturne

Now through night's caressing grip

Earth and all her oceans slip,

Capes of China slide away

From her fingers into day

And th'Americas incline

Coasts towards her shadow line.

Now the ragged vagrants creep

Into crooked holes to sleep:

Just and unjust, worst and best,

Change their places as they rest:

Awkward lovers like in fields

Where disdainful beauty yields:

While the splendid and the proud

Naked stand before the crowd

And the losing gambler gains

And the beggar entertains:

May sleep's healing power extend

Through these hours to our friend.

Unpursued by hostile force,

Traction engine, bull or horse

Or revolting succubus;

Calmly till the morning break

Let him lie, then gently wake.

夜曲

 

此刻穿过夜的爱抚的倾握

地球和她全部的海洋滑动，

中国的海角从她的手指

溜进白天，

美洲将海岸倾斜

向着她的明暗分界线。

此刻衣衫褴褛的游民潜行

进入扭曲的洞里睡觉：

正义和非正义，最坏和最好，

在他们睡眠时改变：

拙劣的情人喜欢在旷野

那里生长轻贱的美：

当华贵者与自傲者

裸站于众人前，

输了的赌徒赢了，

乞丐受款待：

或许沉睡的恢复着的力量

通过这几个钟头扩充给我们的朋友。

未被敌意的力量纠缠，

被牵引车，牛或马

或讨厌的妖精；

让他去睡

安静地直到破晓，然后温柔地醒来。

This Lunar Beauty

This lunar beauty

Has no history

Is complete and early,

If beauty later

Bear any feature

It had a lover

And is another.

This like a dream

Keeps other time

And daytime is

The loss of this,

For time is inches

And the heart's changes

Where ghost has haunted

Lost and wanted.

But this was never

A ghost's endeavor

Nor finished this,

Was ghost at ease,

And till it pass

Love shall not near

The sweetness here

Nor sorrow take

His endless look.

这月亮美人

 

这月亮美人

没有来历

完满且情窦初开，

设想美人随后

带有了某些特征

有了情人

就成了另一个人。

这像是梦

在不同的时间延续，

于此，白天

是失去，

因为光阴苦短

并且在鬼出没

消失和需求的地方

人心多变。

但这决不是

鬼的企图

它也不去结束，

也未放弃，

等到这些过去

爱将无缘

此时的甜蜜

魔鬼也不再进行

他无止境的注视。

Three Short Poems

"The underground roads

Are, as the dead prefer them,

Always tortuous."

"When he looked the cave in the eye,

Hercules

Had a moment of doubt."

"Leaning out over

The dreadful precipice,

One contemptuous tree."

三首短诗

 

“地下的道路

正如死人喜欢的，

总是曲折的。”

“直视洞穴，

大力士

犹豫了片刻。”

“从可怕的悬崖上

探出身去，

一棵轻贱的树。”