——E. A. Robinson
Because he was a butcher and thereby
Did earn an honest living (and did right),
I would not have you think that Reuben Bright
Was any more a brute than you or I;
For when they told him that his wife must die,
He stared at them, and shook with grief and fright,
And cried like a great baby half that night,
And made the women cry to see him cry.
And after she was dead, and he had paid
The singers and the sexton and the rest,
He packed a lot of things that she had made
Most mournfully away in an old chest.
Of hers, and put some chopped-up cedar boughs
In with them, and tore down the slaughter-house.
羅賓遜[1]
他是個(gè)屠夫,憑這門手藝
他生活得踏實(shí)(干得確實(shí)不錯(cuò)),
我不想讓你們胡亂猜疑,
覺(jué)得魯本比你我更暴力。
有人對(duì)他說(shuō)他的妻子沒(méi)救了,
他望著他們搖頭,悲傷又惶惑,
像個(gè)大男孩痛哭了大半夜,
害得旁觀的女人也陪他哭泣。
妻子死后,他付清喪葬費(fèi),
吹鼓手、司事,人人拿到錢,
他懷著悲痛,整理好她的遺物,
連同一些砍來(lái)的杉樹(shù)枝,
一概鎖進(jìn)她的一只舊箱里,
隨后便將屠宰房拆除。
* * *
[1]埃德溫·阿林頓·羅賓遜(Edwin Arlington Robinson,1869—1935),生于緬因州,1891年就讀于哈佛大學(xué),兩年后因父親亡故而輟學(xué)。當(dāng)過(guò)地鐵建筑監(jiān)工,利用業(yè)余時(shí)間寫詩(shī);1901年后專事詩(shī)歌創(chuàng)作。詩(shī)集有《夜的孩子》《激流和昨夜》《河邊小城》等。曾三次獲普利策獎(jiǎng)。羅賓遜的詩(shī)屬于美國(guó)現(xiàn)代詩(shī)歌初創(chuàng)時(shí)期的作品,語(yǔ)言機(jī)智、幽默。
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