讀詩──從一本詩集的翻譯談起
I.
1. I’m a riddle in nine syllables. -- Sylvia Plath
2. 樊同雲
3. A Route of Evanescence
With a revolving Wheel—
A Resonance of Emerald—
A Rush of Cochineal—
And every Blossom on the Bush
Adjusts its tumbled Head—
The mail from Tunis
An easy Morning’s Ride— -- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
一道稍縱即逝的路程
以旋轉的單輪前進─
翡翠綠的共振─
胭脂紅的疾衝─
而榛叢上的每一朵花
都在梳整它撩亂了的髮容─
從突尼斯來的郵車，也許，
一趟隨興搭乘的晨間出遊─
II Selected Poems by Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)
《寫給雨季的歌》（木馬文化，2004）
Octavia Paz (1990年諾貝爾文學獎得主) 評碧許的詩：
似水又似空氣：開啟視野的詩，視覺的詩。用字曉晰，朗如白晝。碧許的詩是一支高能度的視鏡，用遠觀和近睇逗玩。多元空間和視角的對位並呈讓詩變成一座劇場，場內再現著最古老以及天天都在發生的神妙：真實的世界含蓄著層出不窮的謎。讓人張開或閉著眼睛旅行….旅行於自我之內或之外，抵達過去或現在，抵達記憶中一座座私密的城市或繼續旅行，沿著慾望迴旋的甬道。
1. 一首十八歲時寫的詩
Sonnet
I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!
There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.
商籟
我渴欲音樂流淌
淌過我佈滿憂患，多感覺的指尖，
撫過我染著苦澀，顫抖的唇，
調色深邃，清澈，流質般舒緩。
噢，那能止痛療傷，洄盪不已的，
某條低沈的老歌，吟來讓疲倦的亡靈安息
歌曲瀉下如水，淋頭，
淋過我微醺的肢體，夢想蕩滌瀅瀅！
有一種魔法由曲調催生：
一種使人酣然入定的迷魅，呼息悄悄，沁涼的
心，沈潛下來，越過各樣褪去的顏彩
潛入大海深處水波不興的靜謐，
漂浮在月光滿滿的青潭裡，天長地久
讓旋律擁著卿卿入眠。
2. 碧許獨步詩壇觀察入微的眼力，以〈沙鷸〉為例：
Sandpiper
The roaring alongside he takes for granted,
And that every so often the world is bound to shake.
He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward,
In a state of controlled panic, a student of Blake.
The beach hisses like fat. On his left, a sheet
Of interrupting water comes and goes
And glazes over his dark and brittle feet.
He runs, he runs straight through it, watching his toes.
--Watching, rather, the spaces of sand between them,
where (no detail too small) the Atlantic drains
rapidly backwards and downwards. As he runs,
he stares at the dragging grains.
The world is a mist. And then the world is
Minute and vast and clear. The tide
Is higher or lower. He couldn’t tell you which.
His beak is focused; he is preoccupied,
Looking for something, something, something.
Poor bird, he is obsessed!
The millions of grains are black, white, tan, and gray,
Mixed with quartz grains, rose and amethyst.
浪吼聲如影隨形，習以為常了，
加上天地總是隨時瀕臨動盪、傾翻。
疾奔，牠出走向南，戰戰兢兢，
驚惶中強自鎮定，詩人布萊克的門生。
沙灘吱吱若鍋上肥炙。左方
潮水擾步席捲而來，旋復退去
把牠暗色的瘦腳丫釉上了一層光。
疾奔，牠筆直涉越，目光凝注於趾爪。
關注的，其實是趾間的砂質空隙，
（入眼鉅細靡遺）大西洋的潮水一綹綹
急速退卻、沉落。流洩而去的塵沙
舉步之間，牠用心觀察。
先是霧色茫茫。然後天地乍現
細微、浩瀚、清明。潮汐
或漲或落，牠無從細說分曉。
只見牠嘴喙聚焦，氣定神凝
尋覓，啄啄這啄啄那，啄不盡的…
于嗟禽鳥，牠陷入迷陣了！
上百萬粒細沙有黑的、白的、米黃的、鐵灰的，
摻和著石英顆粒，玫瑰紅拌紫水晶。
3. 碧許喜愛的兩種古典格律詩：Villanelle和 Sestina
Villanelle:
One Art
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
So many things seemed filled with the intent
To be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something everyday. Accept the fluster
Of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
Places, and names, and where it was you
Meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! My last, or
Next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lose two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
Some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
一種藝術
失落的藝術要精通並不難；
好多的人事物似乎本來就打定主意
要失落，失去它們因此不算災難。
天天都在失去某樣東西。即使狼狽也得隨遇而安
丟掉的大門鑰匙，胡亂度過的那個小時。
失落的藝術要精通並不難。
更遙遠的失落，更快速的失落要經常演練：
熟悉的地方，人名，以及你朝思暮想
想要前去覽遊的名勝。失去這些不會帶來災難。
我弄丟了母親的手錶。還有！先前那棟，
甚至更早先的那棟，總共三棟心愛的房子。
失落的藝術要精通並不難。
我失去了兩座城市，可愛的城市。更遼闊的，
我曾擁有的某些地域，兩條河流，一整片洲原。
天天思念，不過，這不曾帶來災難。
──就連失去你（那老愛調笑的聲音，一道手勢
是我深深愛著的）原諒我不願說謊。顯然
失落的藝術要精通依舊不難
即使看起來好像（寫出來吧！）好像一場災難。
＊田莊曲（villanelle）起源於義大利，16世紀被引進法國詩壇時，除了以詠頌田園、牧野為題材之外，最顯著的特徵在於疊句的複沓出現。碧許所襲用的田莊曲格律，定調於17世紀。全詩共計19行，分六段，除了最後一段多出一行外，每段3行。整首詩依aba律則循環使用兩個韻腳；此外，第一段的第一行和第三行交替出現在中間四段，最後聯袂再現於詩的結尾兩行。基本上，碧許嚴謹地遵守了上述的格律，只微微作了一個非常巧妙的變通，即在第一段第3行中只取行尾的 “disaster”一字加入循環複現的行列。如此一來，讓 “disaster” 和 “master” 兩個同韻卻意義互相反挫的字在詩中彼此牽制、拉扯。
Sestina:
Sestina
September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.
She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,
It’s time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle’s small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tiding up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac
on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.
It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
And the child draws another inscrutable house.
六合詩
九月的雨淅瀝淋落屋宇。
在逐漸黯淡的日光中，老阿嬤
坐在廚房裡陪伴著小女孩
傍著一口神奇牌小火爐，
唸出一則則笑話，刊在農民曆上的，
一波波的笑浪掩住了伊的眼淚。
伊以為伊秋分時節的眼淚
以及雨叮咚打在屋頂上
兩者都早已預言在農民曆中了，
知情的卻只有伊老阿嬤。
鐵質水壺咿唔吟唱在火爐上。
伊切著麵包，喃喃告訴女孩，
喝茶的時間到了；只是女孩
正凝神看著壺肚上滴滴的眼淚
狂舞在溫燙的黑色火爐上，
恰似雨腳叮咚叮咚舞踊在屋頂。
杯盤收拾乾淨了，老阿嬤
掛回牆壁那本聰明的農民曆
用細繩懸著。鳥一般的，農民曆
扉頁半掀地盤旋在女孩頭上，
也盤旋在老阿嬤頭上
伊的茶杯裡溢滿暗褐色的眼淚。
打者抖，說伊覺得屋子
好冷，於是把更多木柴放進火爐裡。
往事如煙入懷來，神奇的火爐說。
神機妙算自解猜，農民曆說。
女孩一絲不苟用蠟筆畫出一棟屋子
和一條蜿蜒的小徑，接著女孩
又畫上一個男人前襟的鈕釦像眼淚
她得意地把畫秀給老阿嬤。
悄悄地，當老阿嬤
忙著料理晚餐，在火爐旁，
一顆顆小小的月亮墜落如眼淚
從一頁頁張開的農民曆
墜落在花床上，女孩
用心畫在屋前的。
適合種植眼淚的時節，農民曆說。
老阿嬤唱歌給神奇的火爐聽
女孩又畫出了另一棟妙不可言的屋子。
* 這首詩採用文藝復興時期由義大利抒情詩人佩脫拉克(Petrarch)發揚光大的「六合詩」體（sestina）。全詩分七段，前六段每段六行，末段僅三行。前六段每段的行尾由相同的六個字依序組成，若以英文字母表出，其排列次序由外向內迴旋如下：
1 2 3 4 5 6
6 1 5 2 4 3
3 6 4 1 2 5
5 3 2 6 1 4
4 5 1 3 6 2
2 4 6 5 3 1
末段行尾由5，3，1 或1，3，5 組成，但 2，4，6 必須出現在行中。這種向內迴旋的閉合結構使得整首詩自成一個世界，有如藝術構成的雛形宇宙，因此我將sestina譯為「六合詩」。碧許謹守格律，但末段行尾由5，4，1 取代5，3，1；亦即以「火爐」取代「女孩」，這個變格極有道理，凸顯農民曆、火爐和屋子共同具有的空間特質。
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