The Hollow MenT·S·艾略特
空心人陈东飚 译
PoemWikiMistah Kurtz-he dead
A penny for the Old Guy库尔兹先生——他死了。[1]
一个便士给老家伙[2]
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Are quiet and meaningless
Or rats' feet over broken glass
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us-if at all-not as lost
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
More distant and more solemn
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
Behaving as the wind behaves
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Trembling with tenderness
Form prayers to broken stone.
In this valley of dying stars
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
Of death's twilight kingdom
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
[1] 约瑟夫·康拉德 (Joseph Conrad, 1857-1924)《黑暗之心》(Heart of Darkness, 1899年)。库尔兹先生 (Mistah Kurtz) 为主人公,被称为“内核中空”(hollow at the core)。
[2] “家伙”(Guy) 典出企图纵火烧毁英国议会的盖伊·福克斯 (Guy Fawkes, 1570-1606),每年11月5日的盖伊·福克斯之夜 (Guy Fawkes Night),孩童会讨要“一个便士给这家伙”(A penny for the guy) 以点燃盖伊的稻草人像。
[3] 此节最初以“诗” (Poème) 为题单独发表于《交流》(Commerce) 1924年冬季版,并附法语译文。
[4] 此节最初以“我不敢在梦中对视的眼睛”(Eyes I dare not meet indreams)为题单独发表于《标准》(Criterion) 1925年1月号。
[5] 此节最初以“这是死地”(This is the dead land)为题单独发表于《小册子》(Chapbook) 1924年11月号,作为“朵利斯的梦歌”(Doris's Dream Songs)中的第三首。
[6] 此节最初以“眼睛不在此处”(The eyes are not here)为题单独发表于《标准》1925年1月号。
[7] 参见英国儿歌《这里我们绕着桑树丛打转》(Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush)。
[8] 《圣经·马太福音》“……因为国度、权柄、荣耀,全是你的……”。
[9] 康拉德《岛上的流放者》(An Outcast of the Islands, 1896年)。
[10] 参见《这里我们绕着桑树丛打转》:“我们就是这样洗脸……我们就是这样梳头……我们就是这样刷牙……我们就是这样穿衣”(This is the way we wash our face... This is the way we comb our hair... This is the way we brush our teeth... This is the way we put on our clothes)。