英语现代诗译读:R.S.托马斯的诗<Iago Prytherch>汉译
<Iago Prytherch>(《伊阿古·普雷瑟奇》)可谓是R.S.托马斯版的《面朝大海,春暖花开》。它们都表达了这么个意思:幸福的生活是有根的生活,而生活之有根不在于生活的手段比如物质财富等,而在于生活是居住在大地上,作为如此,这样的生活又是宁静的。
最好的生活:居住在大地上
——汉译R.S.托马斯的诗<Iago Prytherch>(《伊阿古·普雷瑟奇》)
Iago Prytherch
Ah,Iago, my friend, whom the ignorant people thought
The last of your kind, since all wealth you brought
From the age of gold was the yellow dust on your shoes,
Spilled by the meadow flowers, if you should choose
To wrest your barns from the wind and the weather’s claws,
And break the hold of the moss on roof and gable;
If you can till your fields and stand to see
The world go by, a foolish tapestry
Scrawled by the times,and lead your mares to stable,
And dream your dream, and after the earth’s laws
Order your life and faith, then you shall be
The fist man of the new community.
伊阿古·普雷瑟奇
啊,伊阿古,我的朋友,
在无知之人看来你在同类中最为落后,
毕竟,若选择从风和天气的魔爪下攫取谷仓,
和弄破那覆盖屋顶及山墙的苔藓,
你所有从金色的年代获得的财富
将不过是草地上的花溅到你鞋上的黄土;
如果你能耕作你的土地,
任世界的脚步顷刻不已,
任时光在粗陋的挂毯留下潦草的印记,
引母马入厩,梦着你的梦,
循着大地的法则确定你的生活和信仰,
那么,你将是新社会的先驱第一。