David Whyte : Self-portrait

Photo by David Whyte

SELF-PORTRAIT / David Whyte
自畫像

It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned,
if you can know despair or see it in others.

一神或多神，我不感興趣。
我想知道你是否有歸屬感
或感到被遺棄。
我想知道你是否能體會絕望，
或看見他人的絕望。

I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes,
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living,
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

我想知道
你是否準備好
活在這個硬要改變你的嚴酷世界，
是否能以堅定眼神回顧，
並說：這就是我立足之地。
我想知道
你是否知道如何融入生活烈焰，
傾身墜入渴望的中心點。
我想知道
你是否願意這樣一天天的活，
承接愛的一切後果，
承受那股苦澀糾結的熱情，
只為了那命定的失落。

I have heard, in that fierce embrace,
even the gods speak of God.

我聽說，在那嚴酷的擁抱裡，
即使眾神也談論著神。

(Mary May 譯）