罗伯特·勃莱： 听科恩音乐会

目不转睛地爱过后，
我们听见音符翻滚在一起，
在冬末，我们还听见冰凌
滑下树枝末梢。


乐符一路荒弃了如此之多。
它们是未被品吃的佳肴，没有
享用的舒适，尚未说出的谎言。
音乐是我对你的专注。


当音乐再次传来，
天色将晚，你眼中饱含泪水。
我看见你转过脸
这样，别人就看不到。


当男人和女人走到了一起，
他们得要放弃多少！鹪鹩
用彩色丝绳和线头
编织巢窝，但每当岁末


动物放弃它们所有财物。
是什么，男人和女人要留下的？
肯定比鹪鹩更难取舍，他们得
放弃他们对于完美的奢求。


不是由本性所筑之内巢
绝不会圆满无缺，
而每一个人不得不进入的巢
是由另一只并非完美鸟建造的。

（微笑 译）


Listening to the Koln Concert

                                Robert Bly


After we had loved each other intently,
we heard notes tumbling together,
in late winter, and we heard ice
falling from the ends of twigs.

 

The notes abandon so much as they move.
They are the food not eaten, the comfort
not taken, the lies not spoken.
The music is my attention to you.

 

And when the music came again,
later in the day, I saw tears in your eyes.
I saw you turn your face away
so that the others would not see.

 

When men and women come together,
how much they have to abandon! Wrens
make their nests of fancy threads
and string ends, animals

 

abandon all their money each year.
What is it that men and women leave?
Harder than wrens’ doing, they have
to abandon their longing for the perfect.

 

The inner nest not made by instinct
will never be quite round,
and each has to enter the nest
made by the other imperfect bird.