(英)约翰·梅斯菲尔德

屠岸 译

李大同,还是个男孩,

他满心是安恬,愉快,

只想在绿草庭院内

种植李树或白玫瑰,

这就能在春天,六月,

让天上的明灯——满月

在洁白透明的时光

替“人”把白花照亮,

这样,寻访者就会

低语:“她会不会说起

这奇事?她会不会许愿

要消除我们的苦难?

她能不能从绿叶枝头

下降,做我们的王后——

我们的救星?噤声!

瞧她下来了……她能。”

他长大以后,在宽广

寥阔的中国土地上,

找不到任何僻壤——

可用来种树的地方。

相反,有钢铁的志愿

要学会砍伐、斩断

那乱成一团的野草——

它阻挡我们的需要。

今天,“人”的青春,

四月,没五月紧跟,

五月,后面没六月,

夜里,缺失了明月。

受挫生命中有希冀

在未灭的美质中奋起,

以闪烁的光芒突破

种种谬误的黑涡。

那千百万支光焰

把一切耻辱烧成烟!

李大同准定能觅得

他心灵安宁的寓所;

盛开的李树将绽放

白花像雪花般飘扬,

上面有宁静的月亮

在静海一般的天上。

1942年10月15日作

【注释】

(1)本诗为英国桂冠诗人梅斯菲尔德(John Masefield)为本书所写代序诗。

On reading

The Bridge of Heaven

To Ta Tung,as a boy,

This hope gave gentle joy,

To plant,in some green close,

A plum-tree or white rose,

That,so,in Spring or June

The lamp of the full Moon

Might show to Man the flower

White,in its whitest hour,

That,those who came to seek,

Would whisper:"Will she speak

This Wonder?Will she bless

Our woes to nothingness?

Will she descend the green

Sweet sprays,and be our Queen?

Our Saviour Queen?O,still……

She moves…… She will."

Then,growing-up,be found

No garden-close,no ground,

In all wide China's space

To be a planting-place.

Instead,an iron will

To learn to kill,and kill,

The tangle of the weeds

That thwart men's needs.

Thus is Man's youth today,

An April without May,

A May without a June,

Night without Moon.

But Hope from thwarted lives

In unquenched beauty strives

Slowly its glimmer breaks

The darkness of mistakes.

So many million flames

Will burn away the shames;

Ta Tung will surely find

His plot of Peace of Mind;

His blossomed plum will lift

White as the snow in drift,

Under a Moon of Peace

In skies like the still seas.

John Masefield

October 15th,1942