【試譯】《大意如此》

外語文學翻譯或外語文學創作
每日限貼兩篇

版主: 麵糰仔

《大意如此》
約翰.阿什貝利

這趟車程總算順暢
直到我們抵達之後事情便開始混亂如麻,
一件事緊接另一件。日子
飛奔如風滾草,且慢且快
又慢下來。天空是甜蜜的和樸實的。
你記得當時它是如何的靜止,
季節把手臂伸進外套,保持包裹
一段很長,很少的時間。

那個星期我們談起森林的濫伐。
無奈的是一切都在變更,
然而也是一種解放!否則我們僅能
期望更多的期望。
這刻仿似一枝煙頭
從未填菸,僅僅緊持
到靜止的發呆中,於永遠不再之前。

我們穿著鞋子走一點路。
我敢肯定你依然記起
那次,信差來到你門前之前
仿佛希望窺探和估算這個地方。
這麼每個夜晚將成為幽禁的早晨
如雷如凝結的奶,儘管發票
被發送了而一群鳥在外圖留宿。


WORDS TO THAT EFFECT
John Ashbery, from his New Collection, Quick Question

The drive down was smooth
but after we arrived things started to go haywire,
first one thing and then another. The days
scudded past like tumbleweed, slow then fast,
then slow again. The sky was sweet and plain.
You remember how still it was then,
a season putting its arms into a coat and staying unwrapped
for a long, a little time.

It was during the week we talked about deforestation.
How sad that everything has to change,
yet what a relief, too! Otherwise we'd only have
looking forward to look forward to.
The moment would be a bud
that never filled, only persevered
in a static trance, before it came to be no more.

We'd walked a little way in our shoes.
I was sure you'd remember how it had been
the other time, before the messenger came to your door
and seemed to want to peer in and size up the place.
So each evening became a forbidden morning
of thunder and curdled milk, though the invoices
got forwarded and birds settled on the periphery.
Thank you for sharing such a lovely poem!

Though some word choices are a bit awkard,
it's still a good read overall.