I ordered this, this clean wood box
我訂購了這只,這干凈的木箱
Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.
方正如椅子,太重幾乎提不起來。
I would say it was the coffin of a midget
我想說它像侏儒的棺木
Or a square baby
或是方形的嬰兒
Were there not such a din in it.
若里面沒有這種嘈雜聲。
The box is locked, it is dangerous.
箱子是鎖著的,有危險。
I have to live with it overnight
我必須與它一起過夜
And I can’t keep away from it.
我不可以離開它。
There are no windows, so I can’t see what is in there.
沒有窗戶,因此我不能看清里面是什么。
There is only a little grid, no exit.
只有一個小柵格,沒有出口。
I put my eye to the grid.
我從柵格往里瞧。
It is dark, dark,
黑暗,黑暗一片。
With the swarmy feeling of African hands
蜂擁的感覺,像非洲人的手
Minute and shrunk for export,
緊縮成小堆爭著要出去,
Black on black, angrily clambering.
黑壓壓,憤怒攀爬。
How can I let them out?
我如何可以放它們出去?
It is the noise that appalls me most of all,
是喧鬧聲特別使我感到恐懼,
The unintelligible syllables.
無法聽懂的音節(jié)。
It is like a Roman mob,
像一群羅馬暴徒,
Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!
小小的,一個接一個,我的上帝,它們一起!
I lay my ear to furious Latin.
我貼上耳朵聽喧鬧的拉丁語。
I am not a Caesar.
我并不是愷撒。
I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.
我只是訂購了這箱瘋子。
They can be sent back.
它們可能被送回。
They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.
它們可能死,我不必喂養(yǎng)它們,我擁有它們。
I wonder how hungry they are.
我想知道它們有多餓。
I wonder if they would forget me
我想知道它們是否會忘了我
If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.
若我打開鎖,往后站,就會變成一棵樹。
There is the laburnum, its blond colonnades,
還有金蓮花,金色的列柱,
And the petticoats of the cherry.
櫻桃色的襯裙。
They might ignore me immediately
也許它們會即刻忽視我
In my moon suit and funeral veil.
我穿月亮套裝、戴葬禮面紗。
I am no source of honey
我絕不是蜂蜜之源
So why should they turn on me?
它們?yōu)楹螌ξ腋信d趣?
Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.
明天我將是溫柔的上帝,我會釋放它們。
The box is only temporary.
這只蜂箱只是暫時的。
(1962/10/04. pp.212—213. No. 177)
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