Countee Cullen
I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,
And did He stoop to quibbIe could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die.
Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus
Is bailed by the fickIe fruit, declare
If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair.
InscrutabIe His ways are, and immune
To catechism by a mind too strewn
With petty cares to slightly understand
What awful brain compels His awful hand
Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:
To make a poet black, and bid him sing!
康蒂·卡倫
我不懷疑上帝的仁慈、善良和好意,
但若是他使用遁詞便能解釋,
為何地下的鼴鼠仍然瞎眼,
為何反映他形象的肉體總有一天要死去,
說明坦塔羅斯受折磨的原因,
是他被變化不定的果子吸引,
闡明是否僅僅因蠻橫的任性,
西西弗斯就注定得攀登無限高的階梯。
上帝之道深?yuàn)W莫測,
對(duì)人們的詰問置之不理,
他們的頭腦塞滿雞毛蒜皮
無法理解操縱他巨手的智慧的威力。
但我對(duì)這件怪事感到驚奇:
造出黑膚色詩人,令他唱吟!
實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升
背景知識(shí)
康蒂·卡倫(Countee Cullen),生于紐約市,并且在那里成為詩人,獲得很多榮譽(yù)。早在中學(xué)時(shí)期他便在全市詩歌比賽中獲獎(jiǎng);在紐約大學(xué),他獲得一項(xiàng)重要的詩歌創(chuàng)作獎(jiǎng),被選入美國大學(xué)優(yōu)秀生全國性榮譽(yù)組織PBK聯(lián)誼會(huì)。1925年卡倫出版第一部詩集《膚色》,蜚聲美國詩壇,并成為二十年代哈萊姆文藝復(fù)興的風(fēng)云人物之一。除了幾本詩集,他還寫了一部題為《通往天堂的一條路》的小說和幾本供兒童閱讀的書。1934年以后卡倫在紐約市初級(jí)中學(xué)任教。
單詞注解
quibbIe['kwibl]遁辭;謬論
fickIe['fikl]易變的,無常的
inscrutabIe[in'skru:t?bl]不可理解的;不可思議的
catechism['k?tikiz?m](天主教)教義問答
名句誦讀
l doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind, And did He stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind, Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die.
Yet do l marvel at this curious thing:To make a poet black, and bid him sing!