Land of Fantasy

 You Who Never Arrived

 

You who never arrived

in my arms, Beloved, who were lost

from the start,

I don't even know what songs

would please you. I have given up trying

to recognize you in the surging wave of

the next moment. All the immense

images in me -- the far-off, deeply-felt landscape,

cities, towers, and bridges, and un-

suspected turns in the path,

and those powerful lands that were once

pulsing with the life of the gods--

all rise within me to mean

you, who forever elude me.

You, Beloved, who are all

the gardens I have ever gazed at,

longing. An open window

in a country house-- , and you almost

stepped out, pensive, to meet me. Streets that I chanced

upon--

you had just walked down them and vanished.

And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors

were still dizzy with your presence and, startled, gave back

my too-sudden image. Who knows? Perhaps the same

bird echoed through both of us

yesterday, separate, in the evening...

 

从未遇到的你

 

从未在我怀中的你

我的爱，一开始

就已经迷失

我甚至不知，什么样的歌谣

能让你高兴。我已放弃尝试

在下一刻的波动中，认出你

所有关于我的景象

——那些遥远，触动内心的风景

城市，灯塔，桥梁，小径上不经意的转角

那些曾跳动着神灵生命脉搏的

充满力量的土地

全都从我心中涌现

诉说着你我永不会相遇的故事

 

你，我的爱，你是我

凝视，向往的花园

在乡间的房子里，一扇敞开的窗——

你若有所思，就要走出与我相遇

你走过，那些我曾偶遇的街道，然后消失

有时在店铺，镜子里的你还是模糊不清

惊讶的是，里面竟有我

一闪而过的身影。谁晓得？

昨晚我们各处一方，也许同一只飞鸟的呼唤

就在你我的心中回响

原诗作者是奥地利德语诗人Rainer Maria Rilke，英文翻译为美国诗人Stephen Mitchell。这是我试译的里尔克的第二首诗，他的诗给人的感觉很飘渺，很有意境，尤其是诗歌的结尾，让人回味无穷。