Mary Oliver : The Journey

Akiane Kramarik 畫作 "Lilies of The Valley"

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.

那天，你終於知道
自己該做什麼，並著手去做，
儘管周遭人聲
嘶吼著
糟透的建議 —
儘管整棟房子
開始顫慄，
你的腳踝感受到一股
古老熟捻的拉力。
陣陣人聲吶喊著：
「補救我的生命！」

But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.

但你沒有停下。
你知道自己該做什麼，
儘管風舉起僵硬手指
不住刺探
最深的基底，
儘管那股悲傷
如此揪心。

It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.

夜很深了。
這狂野的夜，
路上滿是
斷枝和碎石。

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,

但漸漸的，
你拋下了那些人聲，
繁星一一燃點，
穿透雲層，
你逐漸認清了
一個新的聲音，並認出
那是自己的聲音，
伴隨著你跨入世界，
漸行漸深，

determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

決心去做
你唯一能做的一件事 —
決心去救
你唯一能救的一個生命。

(Mary May 譯）