文/李道 譯析/李小蕾

By Richard Burns

Against the Brydale day, which is not long . . .

To Lara, on her eighteenth birthday

I

Against the window, against desire,against expectation, which is not long, she leans away from her light source, and her eyes stay just in shadow as she seems to smile Or say hello, before she starts singing her song which binds unguarded love to you:against the gold and white fire of her dress,against a covered, curtain-hidden sun,she plays it throughout everlastingness,glowing, a pearl, offset against the day.

II

Against her covered, curtain-hidden sun,by being just and all she knows she is,she plays her being’s pattern, as she glows against the day, which settles in her core and grows there, generous, clear centred, sure,as if she were some sturdy, dew-pearled rose gathering light towards her. It collects within her forehead, pools beneath her skin And radiates towards us, quiet, strong,delicate, but untouchable, as her song.

III

This music binds unguarded love to you,her fingers may say to her instrument’s strings and her melody call to the shadows and glooma nd whoever listens in the next room at the end of her gaze, we cannot see.

Hello. Hello. Are you there? Can you hear?

And whether she aims to impress or attract or simply to please, or just doesn’t care,it’s subtle, this mooted joy she folds in her envelope of luminous air.

IV

She is a pearl, offset against the day,against the twin perfection she knows she is and the other perfection she leans towards which is the space gathering between us from the pools of her densely pupilled eyes and the few rich, perfect, ornate things in the room where, smiling, she sits and sings the silence which frets our history’s lacunae in unheard of, guessed at bars,and lights against the space she occupies.

V

Delicate, but untouchable as her song,in playing, she tunes an orchestrated light which is her being’s pattern, and no more than what she is, or has awareness of.Smiling, she plays as if her song were willed

By a more intelligent, kinder love Protecting and surrounding her young face Than any we have understanding of,as if the day itself had overspilled itself through her to make those fingers skilled.

VI

In her envelope of luminous air,joy may be folded, and some other things:pearls round her neck, but no bracelets or rings,whose absence may mean, imply or suggest an innocence: in her ringleted hair,ermine and silk, she is wearing her best,As she plays on, quiet, aware-unaware And ready to move yet still seem at rest,whether she’s smiling, or blushing, or sings and plays for herself, and just doesn’t care.

VII

She lights against the space she occupies,familiar in its elegance and grace,and yet, in youthful eagerness, her face leans still against more space, she may not know outside this screened, framed room she’s captured in against the daylight, closeted for good in the too pure perfection of a pearl,against desire, that radiates through her skin:now, now, she plays, for she is young, a girl just turning from us into womanhood.

VIII

The day in her, to make her fingers skilled(as though she were the space she occupies)to reach across the broken, varnished years in silent music no-one really hears towards us in another century,has made her human: no pure pearl or bloom could possess such composure. Those deep eyes are burdened with too fine, alert intelligence and too prepared, in willing mute obedience to wait forever in her drawing room.

IX

If she plays for herself, and just doesn’t care whose being she plucks from her instrument’s strings(woman, girl, woman, in yellow and white),but smiles at an audience of none, in the wings,no secret admirer, protected from sight,no parent or guardian to applaud her, or call,then it’s her own selfhood she sifts as she sings and her own self-becoming wavering there hidden against the chiaroscuro half-light as in an unseen mirror on a wall.

X

Just turning from us into womanhood against the day, against parental praise,she gives to shadows one half of her face and a warm human longing fills her gaze yet quietens it, for it is still uncertain.so, balanced between action and repose,she looks away. What there she sees or knows offstage, in her own private, secret place,waits there, without embodiment or history and is not for the telling. It’s her mystery.

XI

To wait for ever in her drawing room could be her destiny, always: poised steady as a dart to pierce the adulthood she leans against, but never will command more than the brush held in her maker’s hand who formed her, against day, against desire and against his day’s possessions. Against her bridal day, no girl could seem so ready as she, in certain hope, so quali fied by all but nature, for her womanhood.

XII

As if glimpsed in a mirror on a wall she’s posed, as ornamental as the tree gilt-framed behind her: nature trapped inside arti fice, inside arti fice, where she,pearled tracery on rich parental pride,sits screened in flattened space, to play on three dimensions, self-contained, in perfect liberty:but the fourth, our common history, we share with her across the barricaded years within whose space alone may she be freed.

XIII

What is not for the telling, but her mystery,we cannot know: she may play for her groom,or entertain a friend, or family guest,who, deep in the interior of her room,off in the wings, unfettered by her frame,knows her full repertoire we cannot hear.

we only see her hopeful gaze arrest on absent presence, distant and yet near,and whoever may be listening, manifest space as the sound her silent song must claim.

XIV

From all in nature must her womanhood remain exempt, unless you hear her. This is still and always all art ever meant,and only you have natural power to call her being from its painted arti fice created by the man who patterned all he knew in her, of love’s integument against the day. You are the instrument she plays on, until doomsday: against you the gloom she gazes, still and always,through.

XV

Within whose space, alone, may she be free if not in yours? Come, hear her subtle playing unlock the solid shutters of the years and open them, light-wrought, in filigree:playing her being’s pattern, she plays true.She is the song she plays, and what it’s saying(This music wings unguarded love to you),calls you, who are her song’s recipient,yourself, to pattern love, her music’s key,and join her in the gift of this, her moment.

XVI

Your space: the single sound her song may claim to open, is the gift a father knew seeing his natural daughter come of age.this child of his will meet her adulthood by playing her being’s pattern quietly through the centuries, until she reaches you.

You are her hope, her natural heritage.

You are the absent audience in her wings.Your entrance is the cue a parent would most desire for her. It is for you she sings.

XVII

The gloom she gazes still and always through clears, as you listen. This, her painter knew:unless you hear her music, and impress the sound it makes upon your inner ear,she will not play at all but wait forever.She gives herself. Her gift is its own giver and its envelope of luminous air bears your mark on it. You are its address.

Whoever you may be, although unknown,her music plays to all of you alone.

XVIII

Come, join her in the gift of this, her moment,becoming her own secret audience as if you were the listener in the wings for whom her music’s made, performed and meant,and, though this be impossible, confess how well you hear and understand these songs she plays to you through everlastingness on soundless subtle chords no aural sense could ever pluck, except against the heart,against the day, against desire, in art.

期待不久之后的婚期……

值勞拉十八歲生日之際，謹以此詩奉獻給她

Ⅰ

面朝窗子，期待激情，期待明天，出閨的日子近在眼前，光影斑駁，她明眸善睞，在黑暗中駐留，笑意嫣然，顧盼神飛，她輕聲吟唱，在肆意中灑落，一腔深情：金白相間，她裙子的絲線，身后的窗簾，遮住了太陽，樂聲裊裊，她穿越永恒，如珍珠般光潔，期待著明天。

Ⅱ

身后的窗簾，遮住了太陽，做著自己，她安然自若，自我的旋律，她悠然彈奏，期待明天，她氣定神閑。

白晝的光影在她的臉上聚焦，茁壯生長，猶如掛著露珠的玫瑰，傾斜的陽光在她的身上灑落。日光如瀑，她的前額氤氳開來，陽光也映照著我們，安寧，強烈，美妙，但無法觸摸，一如她的歌聲。

Ⅲ

在肆意中灑落，一腔熱情，呢喃低語，她撥動著手中的琴弦在樂聲中體會，流光溢彩，無論是誰，她感動了隔壁的聽眾，她目光定格的地方，我們無法企及。

你好。你好。你可在那里？你可曾聽到？

她想要打動聽眾還是吸引他們，想要取悅他們還是毫不在意，這感覺微妙，她把朦朧的喜悅折疊進那明媚的信封。

Ⅳ

如珍珠般光潔，期待著明天，她清楚自己擁有的雙重完美那第二重等待中的完美就是她和我們之間的距離她烏黑的眼珠，似一泓深泉目光深邃，飽含著深情她安坐于房間，淺唱低吟著我們之間流淌而逝的歲月我們之間隔著音符的距離她面朝著陽光的方向。

Ⅴ

歌聲悠揚，但無法觸摸，她撥動著和諧的曲調(diào)安然自若，氣定神閑，她演繹著本真的自我。

笑意倩然，撫琴彈奏，她感受著上天的眷顧神靈庇護她那年輕的面龐我們無從想象那如有神助，歲月飽滿得要盈盈溢出，時光造就了那一雙精巧的手。

Ⅵ

她明媚的信封里，折疊著喜悅和其他：珍珠環(huán)繞著脖頸，但沒有手鐲或耳環(huán)，它們的缺席也許暗示或意味著一種純真：編成麻花的發(fā)辮，貂皮絲綢的外衣，是她最美的妝扮，她繼續(xù)演奏，安詳靜謐隨時準備起身，卻紋絲未動，巧笑倩兮或是臉飛紅云，或是自娛自樂，根本毫不在意。

Ⅶ

她面朝著陽光的方向，優(yōu)雅如常，然而，懷著少女的期待，她渴望未知的明天困在畫框的空間里沐浴著陽光，定格成永恒如珍珠般完美，期待激情，肌膚晶瑩：她就這樣彈奏著青春，這個女孩即將長大成人。

Ⅷ

時光造就了那一雙靈巧的手（她的身上仿佛凝結(jié)了時間）穿越破碎青檸的歲月無人知道那寂靜的音樂她在另一個世紀遇見我們，而我們使她復(fù)活：珍珠或鮮花都比不上她的沉靜。那雙深邃的眼睛閃爍著聰慧與靈敏她沉默柔順，待字閨中，卻隨時準備著愛情的降臨。

Ⅸ

她自娛自樂，根本毫不在意肆意撥動著手中的琴弦（女人，女孩，女人，穿著黃白相間的外衣），對著空無一人的邊廂，微笑示意，沒有躲在暗處的仰慕者，也沒有父母或家人為她喝彩，給予回應(yīng)，如果是這樣，那么她的曲子就是為自我而彈為未來的自己而唱躲在光影斑駁的地方仿佛對著墻上無形的鏡子。

Ⅹ

她即將長大成人期待明天，期待父母的贊揚，那半側(cè)臉龐隱于暗影目光里盛滿熱切的期盼但秘而不宣，只因一切未知。一半是行動，一半是靜止，她望向別處。在自己私人的領(lǐng)地里朝邊廂張望，她看見了什么，我們無從了解。這是屬于她的秘密。

XI

永遠地待字閨中大概是她不變的命運：如一枚隨時準備刺入成年的飛鏢她時刻期待著，但擺脫不了畫家手中的畫筆他塑造了她，讓她期待明天，期待愛情期待他擁有的一切。她期待著出嫁的日子，沒有哪個女孩比她更加急迫，她懷著希望和純真邁入她的成年。

XII

仿佛對著墻上無形的鏡子她的姿勢如同一棵靜止的樹鍍金的畫框：她的天性束縛在精巧的工藝中，父母的自豪用珍珠串起她囿于二維空間，卻演繹著三維空間，自娛自樂，無拘無束：但那第四維空間，是我們共同的歷史，我們穿越時光與她相遇她終于獲得自由。

XIII

我們無從知道她的秘密：她可能是為未來的新郎而彈，或是為娛樂家人朋友而奏，他們隱于房間的暗處，邊廂里，不受畫框的束縛，感受著她盡情的揮灑。我們只看到她熱切的凝視停留在遙不可及又近在咫尺的空白地方，無論誰在傾聽，都能傳達此時無聲勝有聲的意境。

XIV

你聽到她的音樂之后她才能邁入成年。這就是藝術(shù)的全部意義，只有你才能讓她從藝術(shù)中復(fù)活披著愛的外衣，那位匠人描繪出對她的全部了解。你就是她演奏到老的樂曲：她凝望的方向始終都是你。

XV

如果沒有你，她怎能獲得自由？

過來，請傾聽她的淺吟低唱把這些年來緊鎖的百葉窗打開屋里灑滿陽光，芳香四溢：她撥動著自己的旋律，忠于自我。

她就是她彈奏的曲子，是它的訴說這支曲子灑落對你的一腔熱情，你就是它呼喚的聽眾，你擁有打開她音樂的鑰匙，請加入她的演奏，這屬于她的時刻。

XVI

你的空間是她歌曲唯一開放的窗口，是父親清楚女兒長大后將收獲的禮物。他的孩子將要邁入成年她自彈自唱，樂聲穿越世紀，最后來到你的身邊。你是她的希望，是她天然的財富。

你就是躲在邊廂里的那位聽眾。

你的到來是她父母最大的寬慰。她的歌為你而唱。

XVII

你傾聽的時候，她凝望的黑暗將隱去。她的作者清楚這一點：除非你聽到她的音樂，讓那樂聲傳入你的耳朵，否則她將永遠在等待中度過。她交出了自己，她自己就是送給讀者的禮物她就是那明媚的信封上面刻有你的名字。你就是她的地址。

無論你是誰，就算無人知曉，她的樂曲也只為你而彈奏。

XVIII

過來，加入她的演奏，這屬于她的時刻，做她隱秘的聽眾仿佛你就是那邊廂里的聽者她的音樂為你而創(chuàng)作，為你而彈奏，即使不可能，也試著告訴她那些歌曲讓你多么感同身受她的音樂向你書寫著永恒在無聲的琴弦上，在聽覺無法感知的地方，只有懷著期待的心情，在藝術(shù)的殿堂里，期待明天，期待愛情。

【譯后記】

譯者于2015至2016年赴劍橋大學(xué)訪學(xué)一年，有幸結(jié)識了英國當(dāng)代著名詩人Richard Burns（原名Richard Berengarten，中文名李道），曾至詩人家中拜訪數(shù)次，就此詩的創(chuàng)作理念和中心思想與詩人進行過反復(fù)的探討。如今，承蒙他的盛情邀請，試譯了此詩。詩本不可譯，縱然如此，有感于其間的詩意和難得的緣分，再加上詩人對中國文化的一片赤誠之情，還是盡了樸拙之力以為之，望讀者指正。

【詩歌賞析】

李道，1943年出生于倫敦，英國當(dāng)代最著名的詩人之一。他曾旅居意大利、希臘、南斯拉夫和美國，赴16國指導(dǎo)文學(xué)創(chuàng)作，兩度被英國皇家文學(xué)基金會聘為研究員，目前居住于英國劍橋鎮(zhèn)并在劍橋大學(xué)多個學(xué)院擔(dān)任導(dǎo)師。他的詩歌風(fēng)格多變，融合了英國、法國、美國、猶太、東方、地中海和斯拉夫等多元文化的影響；主題涉獵廣泛，從歷史政治、日常生活到精神世界和奇思妙想，無一不是其興趣所在。他于1975年創(chuàng)辦了如今享有盛名的劍橋國際詩歌節(jié)，并于2015年在劍橋協(xié)辦了首屆徐志摩詩歌節(jié)。出版著作Against Perfection（《期待完美》，1999）、The Blue Butter fly（《藍蝴蝶》, 2006）、Manual（《手冊》, 2014）和Changing（《易》，2016）等三十多部，獲得過摩拉瓦河國際詩歌獎、溫蓋特詩歌獎、塞爾維亞詩歌獎等眾多國際文學(xué)獎項。他的詩歌已經(jīng)被翻譯成96種文字，影響深遠。

2016年對于英國詩人李道來說，是和中國文化聯(lián)系密切的一年。2016年6月，他受邀首次來到中國，出席了四川西昌的“絲綢之路國際詩歌周”，同年10月又出席了“2016鳳凰·鼓浪嶼詩歌節(jié)”并代表所有國際詩人致開幕詞。2016年9月，他出版了名為Changing（《易》）的鴻篇巨制，這是一部向中國的哲學(xué)經(jīng)典《易經(jīng)》致敬的作品。遺憾的是，這樣一位享有國際聲譽且對中國文化如此癡迷的詩人，其部分詩作卻尚未被譯成中文，比如這首長詩“期待明天”（選自詩集《期待完美》）即是以中文的形式初次和我國讀者見面。

“期待明天”可以被視作對荷蘭古典畫家約翰內(nèi)斯·維米爾的《吉他少女》的解讀，前者是詩，后者是畫，經(jīng)由詩人之手，藝術(shù)完成了一次從畫到詩的自然流淌。與《戴珍珠耳環(huán)的少女》相比，這幅肖像畫略顯呆板，也許不算畫家的精品之作。然而，詩人卻從這幅看似不完美的畫中挖掘出了完美的意蘊。畫中的少女讓他想到了自己即將成年的女兒，因此他懷著一腔深情與之娓娓交談，就連日后出版的詩集也以該少女作為封面。

此詩的結(jié)構(gòu)獨具匠心。首先，全詩共分為十八個環(huán)環(huán)相扣的詩節(jié)，這個數(shù)字對應(yīng)的是詩人女兒的年齡，正如扉頁上所寫的那樣：“值勞拉十八歲生日之際，謹以此詩奉獻給她?！泵恳粋€詩節(jié)都包含十行，呈對句形式，大部分詩行采用的都是五步抑揚格（iambic pentameter）。其次，這些詩節(jié)之間也有著微妙的聯(lián)系。詩人向筆者透露，在構(gòu)思該詩的結(jié)構(gòu)時，他受到中世紀的英國詩歌“珍珠”（作者珀爾，作于十四世紀晚期）的啟發(fā)。這首鮮為人知的詩歌共分為二十個篇章，每個篇章包含五個詩節(jié)。每一詩節(jié)末尾的措辭都遙相呼應(yīng)了下一詩節(jié)開頭的措辭，所以讀來仿佛串起的珠子，故名“珍珠”。在“期待明天”一詩中，詩人仿效“珍珠”的結(jié)構(gòu)，每個詩節(jié)（最后三個詩節(jié)除外）的尾行都會重現(xiàn)在接下來的第三個詩節(jié)的首行，只是在細節(jié)方面稍有變化。比如，第一個詩節(jié)的尾行會在第四個詩節(jié)的首行再現(xiàn)，以此類推。整首詩歌即圍繞著數(shù)字“三”盤旋纏繞，象征著少女三股一體的麻花辮。除了“珍珠”給予的靈感之外，詩人還特別向筆者強調(diào)，中國的易經(jīng)文化博大精深，其象、數(shù)、理三位一體的核心思想也給了他莫大的啟迪。

除了結(jié)構(gòu)精巧之外，該詩的內(nèi)容也飽含溫情。在前七個詩節(jié)里，詩人描繪出了女孩撫琴自唱的畫面：她安坐于窗邊，懷抱著吉他，對著邊廂里缺席的聽眾淺吟低唱。她在樂聲中期待著什么？或許是明天，或許是成年，或許是她走出閨房、享受愛情的日子。所有的細節(jié)，讀者無從知曉，只能揣測。在后十一個詩節(jié)里，詩人把問題的答案向讀者徐徐道來：原來少女期待的是日后與無數(shù)觀者跨越時空的相逢，信箋的地址就是我們。只有觀者才能把她從這幅畫框中解救下來，傾聽她的琴聲，體味她的訴說，也只有觀者才能把過去和未來連接在一起，實現(xiàn)她的價值，完成她的夙愿。原來畫作的觀者就是邊廂里那缺席的聽眾。詩人這樣頗具哲理的安排不禁讓人想到莎士比亞十四行詩中的名句：只要世間尚有人吟誦我的詩篇，這詩就將不朽，永葆你的芳顏。是啊，經(jīng)由觀者，這幅《吉他少女》的畫作從十七世紀一直流傳至今；同理，經(jīng)由讀者，這首《期待明天》的詩作也將從今天一直走向未來。

最后，援引李道在“2016鳳凰·鼓浪嶼詩歌節(jié)”上的開幕詞：“未來和過去都在召喚著我們，通過詩歌進入現(xiàn)在，進入當(dāng)下，無論主客?！本妥屛覀冏鳛檫@首詩歌的讀者，反客為主，亦主亦客，與詩中的少女竊竊私語，與詩外的李道侃侃而談，感受藝術(shù)的魅力和文化的共通。 □