石船裝的星星

翻譯 A Star in a Stoneboat by Robert Frost

*古早開墾農田時，要用木板做的石船移走石頭。這些石頭用來做防止飼物跑掉。

Never tell me that not one star of all

That slip from heaven at night and softly fall

Has been picked up with stones to build a wall.

絕對不要告訴我，全部星星

夜晚從天空飛落，輕輕墜定，

竟無石頭般撿起，拿去作埂。

Some laborer found one faded and stone-cold,

And saving that its weight suggested gold

And tugged it from his first too certain hold,

星星褪色又冰冷，工人發現，

卻不知其重如金，不經探勘，

把它緊握在手中，用力拉牽。

He noticed nothing in it to remark.

He was not used to handling stars thrown dark

And lifeless from an interrupted arc.

他既沒發現亮點，在它身上，

也沒處理過星星，落入黑芒，

被迫中斷運行後，生機無望。

He did not recognize in that smooth coal

The one thing palpable besides the soul

To penetrate the air in which we roll.

他不能辨識煤炭，光滑內因，

有可感知的東西，除了靈魂，

可以穿透大氣層，人的紅塵。

He did not see how like a flying thing

It brooded ant eggs, and bad one large wing,

One not so large for flying in a ring,

他不明白這東西，飛行之癡，

也能孵化螞蟻蛋，奮振單翅，

不夠大到用來飛，繞環奔馳，

And a long Bird of Paradise's tail

(Though these when not in use to fly and trail

It drew back in its body like a snail);

就像天堂鳥長尾，光耀絢麗，

（它們飛行拖曵後，不再出力，

就會像蝸牛一樣，縮回身體）；

Nor know that be might move it from the spot—

The harm was done: from having been star-shot

The very nature of the soil was hot

它是否會被移走，也不知曉——

射星槍擊中墜落，傷害已造，

這些土壤的本質，熾熱扶搖。

And burning to yield flowers instead of grain,

Flowers fanned and not put out by all the rain

Poured on them by his prayers prayed in vain.

燒後土壤長出花，不是穀物，

大雨澆不熄花朵，風中飄舞。

他祈禱引來大雨，功效了無。

He moved it roughly with an iron bar,

He loaded an old stoneboat with the star

And not, as you might think, a flying car,

他粗暴移動星星，揮動鐵棒，

他把星星搬上橇，老石船上，

並不是你想像的，汽車飛翔。

Such as even poets would admit perforce

More practical than Pegasus the horse

If it could put a star back in its course.

詩人也只能承認，這些花招，

比起飛馬座的馬，更為實效，

但願真能讓星星，回歸軌道。

He dragged it through the plowed ground at a pace

But faintly reminiscent of the race

Of jostling rock in interstellar space.

他快步穿過農田，拖著石船，

但隱約讓人想起，競賽景觀——

外太空中的岩石，互爭向前。

It went for building stone, and I, as though

Commanded in a dream, forever go

To right the wrong that this should have been so.

它要用作營建石，但我好像

夢中得到大使命，永不停航，

為了要糾正錯誤，本該這樣。

Yet ask where else it could have gone as well,

I do not know—I cannot stop to tell:

He might have left it lying where it fell.

它能去別的地方？我也想問。

我不知好的歸宿，無空評述：

他最好把它留住，掉落之處。

From following walls I never lift my eye,

Except at night to places in the sky

Where showers of charted meteors let fly.

我沿著矮牆慢走，低著眼睛，

只在星星密佈時，望向天空，

航圖記錄流星雨，曾經飛行。

Some may know what they seek in school and church,

And why they seek it there; for what I search

I must go measuring stone walls, perch on perch;

人們或許早知道，尋求之物，

也知道為何找它；而我搜捕，

以仔細打量石牆，每塊礦物；

Sure that though not a star of death and birth,

So not to be compared, perhaps, in worth

To such resorts of life as Mars and Earth—

確定不涉及星星，死或誕生，

所以不在價值上，進行較勁，

與火星和地球上，豐盛生命。

Though not, I say, a star of death and sin,

It yet has poles, and only needs a spin

To show its worldly nature and begin

雖然不關死與罪，我這樣算：

星星還保有兩極，只要旋轉， （地球也有兩極）

展現其世俗本質，重新開端：

To chafe and shuffle in my calloused palm

And run off in strange tangents with my arm,

As fish do with the line in first alarm.

在我老繭的手中，摩擦拖曳，

以怪異切線逃跑，對我的臂， （地球有被太陽吸引的向心力，有要逃脫的切線力）

像魚一聽到警報，從線逃逸。

Such as it is, it promises the prize

Of the one world complete in any size

That I am like to compass, fool or wise.

差強人意的獎品：它只應允

一個完整的世界，無論尺寸，

只要我願意追尋，聰明或蠢。