英漢對照|托馬斯詩選：在我敲開之前

Before I knocked

Before I knocked and flesh let enter,

With liquid hands tapped on the womb,

I who was shapeless as the water

That shaped the Jordan near my home

Was brother to Mnetha's daughter

And sister to the fathering worm.

I who was deaf to spring and summer,

Who knew not sun nor moon by name,

Felt thud beneath my flesh's armour,

As yet was in a molten form,

The leaden stars, the rainy hammer

Swung by my father from his dome.

I knew the message of the winter,

The darted hail, the childish snow,

And the wind was my sister suitor;

Wind in me leaped, the hellborn dew;

My veins flowed with the Eastern weather;

Ungotten I knew night and day.

As yet ungotten, I did suffer;

The rack of dreams my lily bones

Did twist into a living cipher,

And flesh was snipped to cross the lines

Of gallow crosses on the liver

And brambles in the wringing brains.

My throat knew thirst before the structure

Of skin and vein around the well

Where words and water make a mixture

Unfailing till the blood runs foul;

My heart knew love, my belly hunger;

I smelt the maggot in my stool.

And time cast forth my mortal creature

To drift or drown upon the seas

Acquainted with the salt adventure

Of tides that never touch the shores.

I who was rich was made the richer

By sipping at the vine of days.

I, born of flesh and ghost, was neither

A ghost nor man, but mortal ghost.

And I was struck down by death's feather.

I was a mortal to the last

Long breath that carried to my father

The message of his dying christ.

You who bow down at cross and altar,

Remember me and pity Him

Who took my flesh and bone for armour

And doublecrossed my mother's womb.

在我敲開之前

在我伸出流動的手指，

輕叩子宮，敲開肉體大門之前，

我像水一樣飄忽無形，

那水匯成了家鄉(xiāng)附近的約旦河，

我是摩尼莎女兒的兄弟，

我也是繁衍蠕蟲的姐妹。

我充耳不聞春天和夏天，

叫不出太陽和月亮的名字，

我感到血肉盔甲之下，

砰然作響，迄今還在熔合，

父親在穹頂下?lián)]舞

雨點般的鐵錘，鉛星飛濺。

我知曉冬天的訊息，

冰雹紛飛，雪花如嬉，

而寒風(fēng)追逐我的姐妹;

風(fēng)在我體內(nèi)跳動，惡露降臨;

我的血管隨東方的天氣流動;

未出生我就知曉黑夜與白晝。

還未出生，我就飽經(jīng)風(fēng)霜;

噩夢折磨著我，百合般的骨頭

絞成一組活生生的密碼。

而被肢解的血肉穿越一排排

聳立在肝區(qū)的十字架，

穿越腦海里纏結(jié)的荊棘叢。

在肌膚和血管圍攏井口之前，

我的喉嚨早已知道干渴，

言詞和水在那兒融為一體，

無窮無盡，直到血發(fā)臭;

我的心感受到愛，胃飽嘗饑餓;

我在自己的糞便嗅到蛆蟲。

時光拋出我凡夫俗子的軀體

追隨咸潮奔涌的冒險

在海上漂泊沉浮

卻未曾觸及到岸。

我啜飲時光的葡萄汁

愈加變得奢華富有。

我的靈與肉天生一體，非人

亦非魔，卻是凡間的幽靈。

我被死亡的羽毛擊倒在地。

終有一死，我最后

一口長長的呼吸捎給父親

那基督臨終的口信。

你俯首眼前的十字架和祭壇，

記著我，并憐憫基督，

是他誤將我的骨肉當成盔甲，

欺騙了我母親的子宮。