葛綠柯植物誌 (12): The Jacob's Ladder

〈雅各的天梯〉*

困在土裡，
若是你，不也會想
上天堂？我住在
一位淑女的花園。原諒我，女士，
渴望已帶走了我的優雅。我
不是你原先想要的。但
一如男與女似乎
彼此渴求，我也渴求
認識天堂——而現在
你的悲傷，一根光禿枝幹
伸及前廊的窗。
盡頭有什麼？一朵藍色小花
像顆星星。永遠
離不開這世界！這
不就是你淚水的意思？

The Jacob's ladder

Trapped in the earth,
wouldn't you too want to go
to heaven? I live
in a lady's garden. Forgive me, lady;
longing has taken my grace. I am
not what you wanted. But
as men and women seem
to desire each other, I too desire
knowledge of paradise--and now
your grief, a naked stem
reaching the porch window.
And at the end, what? A small blue flower
like a star. Never to leave
this world! Is this
not what your tears mean?



-----

* Jacob's ladder 學名 Polemonium caeruleum，是一種花荵科的多年生草本植物，植株直挺，開藍紫色花。我查不到中文俗名（應該是沒有，因為它原產歐洲），此處直譯英文原名，因為跟天堂的意象比較有關。

葛綠柯植物誌 (11): Ipomoea

話說牽牛花是我從小就很熟悉的植物，因為太普遍甚至有種土俗感，看到 Glück 從這種我從沒想過的切入點來寫還真的吃了一驚（笑）。

〈牽牛花〉

前世我的罪是什麼，
一如此生我的罪
是哀傷，使我再也
不得上升，
永不得以任何方式
重複我的生命，
纏繞在山楂樹間，所有
塵世之美都是我的處罰
因為那是你的——
我苦難的來源，為何
你引我開出
這些天空般的花，只為
標示我是我主的
一部分：我是
他披風的顏色，我的肌骨使
他的榮耀成為有形。


Ipomoea

What was my crime in another life,
as in this life my crime
is sorrow, that I am not to be
permitted to ascend ever again,
never in any sense
permitted to repeat my life,
wound in the hawthorn, all
earthly beauty my punishment
as it is yours--
Source of my suffering, why
have you drawn from me
these flowers like the sky, except
to mark me as a part
of my master: I am
his cloak's color, my flesh giveth
form to his glory.

-----

* 牽牛花英文俗稱 morning glory，指其晨開暮謝（日文的「朝顏」顯然也是同樣的邏輯），本詩最後一句的 glory 一字應也由此而來。

葛綠柯植物誌 (10): Witchgrass

〈巫草〉*

有什麼
來到這世界不受歡迎
喊著失序，失序——

若你這麼恨我
不必特地給我
一個名字：難道需要
又一個辱罵之詞
在你的語言，多一種
方式把所有事
歸咎於一族——

你我都知道，
若你崇拜
一個神，就只需要
一個敵人——

我不是敵人。
只是個藉口讓你
忽視眼前正在
這片花圃發生的，
一個小小的
失敗範式。你的寶貝花朵
幾乎每天都在死去
而你無法罷休直到
你攻擊禍首，也就是
任何留下的，任何
湊巧堅韌耐活

勝過你偏愛之物——

那本就註定
無法在真實世界長久。
但何必承認這點，大可
照你慣常的
繼續哀悼與怪罪，
總是兩者並行。

我存活並不需要
你的讚美。我存在
早於你，早在
你種花蒔草之前。
而我會繼續在這裡直到只剩
日月，大海，和遼闊原野。

我就將是那原野。


Witchgrass

Something
comes into the world unwelcome
calling disorder, disorder--

If you hate me so much
don't bother to give me
a name: do you need
one more slur
in your language, another
way to blame
one tribe for everything--

as we both know,
if you worship
one god, you only need
One enemy--

I'm not the enemy.
Only a ruse to ignore
what you see happening
right here in this bed,
a little paradigm
of failure. One of your precious flowers
dies here almost every day
and you can't rest until
you attack the cause, meaning
whatever is left, whatever
happens to be sturdier
than your personal passion--

It was not meant
to last forever in the real world.
But why admit that, when you can go on
doing what you always do,
mourning and laying blame,
always the two together.

I don't need your praise
to survive. I was here first,
before you were here, before
you ever planted a garden.
And I'll be here when only the sun and moon
are left, and the sea, and the wide field.

I will constitute the field.



-----

* Witchgrass 學名 Panicum capillare，是一種原生於北美的禾本科植物，我查不到台灣的正式譯名，網路上有簡體中文資料稱它為「毛絨稷」或「毛狀稷」。此處選擇直譯為巫草，主要為傳達原詩中污名和雜草的意象。

葛綠柯植物誌 (9): Snowdrops

一元復始，大家讀詩。


〈雪花蓮〉

你知道我曾是什麼嗎，我如何活？你懂得
絕望；那
你應該明白冬天意味什麼。

我沒料想自己能存活，
泥土壓住我。我沒料想
能再醒來，感覺
潮潤泥土裡的身體
恢復反應，記得
這麼久之後再度綻放
在冷冷天光
最早的初春——

懼怕，是的，但回到人世
叫喊是的冒險喜悅

在新世界的寒冽風中。


Snowdrops

Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you.

I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn't expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring--

afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy

in the raw wind of the new world.

大年初一飯店早餐桌上熱騰騰出爐的譯文手（ㄍㄨㄟˇ）寫（ㄏㄨㄚˋ）稿（ㄈㄨˊ），
大家看我多認真啊哈哈哈～

葛綠柯植物誌 (8): Clover

上個月後半比較忙亂靜不下心，所以葛綠柯花園暫停了兩個星期，但其實還有很多植物可供採擷啊，比方這株語帶諷刺有點妙的〈苜蓿〉。


〈苜蓿〉

那散佈在
我們當中的，你稱之為
幸運的象徵*
儘管它就像我們
是雜草，是要
根除的東西——

是什麼邏輯
你收藏
單獨一根卷鬚
而要其他的
死？

若我們當中存在
如此強大，難道不該
讓它繁衍，服務
你珍愛的花園？

你該問自己
這些問題，
而非把疑問留給
受害者。你該知道
當你大搖大擺穿過我們
我聽見兩個聲音說話，
一是你的靈，另一
是你雙手所為。

Clover

What is dispersed
among us, which you call
the sign of blessedness
although it is, like us,
a weed, a thing
to be rooted out--

by what logic
do you hoard
a single tendril
of something you want
dead?

If there is any presence among us
so powerful, should it not
multiply, in service
of the adored garden?

You should be asking
these questions yourself,
not leaving them
to your victims. You should know
that when you swagger among us
I hear two voices speaking,
one your spirit, one
the acts of your hands.

-----
* 苜蓿一般為三葉，偶有四葉的變種被視為幸運象徵，就是中文說的幸運草（只是在台灣我們通常好像是指酢漿草）。

葛綠柯植物誌 (7)：Daisies

其實這首詩前半的那種二元對立有點老套，但最後的反轉帶點諷刺還蠻有趣的。類似的回馬槍之感在〈延齡草〉也出現過，但那首的反轉更後設而且力道更強烈，我就喜歡得多。

〈雛菊〉

別客氣，你就直說吧。庭園

不是真實世界。機器

才是真實世界。坦白說出任何傻子

都能從你臉上讀出的：合理的做法

是避開我們，是抗拒

懷舊。這

不夠現代，風吹動

草地上雛菊的聲音：頭腦

不會因聽風而閃亮。而頭腦

當然要閃亮，就像

機器閃亮，而非

比方說，像樹根扎深。但還是

很感人，看你小心翼翼

走近草地邊緣，一大清早

絕不會有人

看見你的時候。你在草地旁站愈久，

愈顯緊張。沒人想聽

自然世界的印象：你會再度

被嘲笑；人們會對你嗤之以鼻。

至於你今晨此刻

實際聽到的話：想清楚

是否要告訴別人這原野上說了什麼

又是誰說的

Daisies

Go ahead: say what you're thinking. The garden

is not the real world. Machines

are the real world. Say frankly what any fool

could read in your face: it makes sense

to avoid us, to resist

nostalgia. It is

not modern enough, the sound the wind makes

stirring a meadow of daisies: the mind

cannot shine following it. And the mind

wants to shine, plainly, as

machines shine, and not

grow deep, as, for example, roots. It is very touching,

all the same, to see you cautiously

approaching the meadow's border in early morning,

when no one could possibly

be watching you. The longer you stand at the edge,

the more nervous you seem. No one wants to hear

impressions of the natural world: you will be

laughed at again; scorn will be piled on you.

As for what you're actually

hearing this morning: think twice

before you tell anyone what was said in this field

and by whom.

葛綠柯植物誌 (6)：The Wild Iris

經過黑暗無邊深陷谷底的 2020，新的一年就以這首充滿重生意象的詩來開始吧。與《野鳶尾》詩集同名的開卷之作有著 Glück 一貫簡單無華的用字，但細讀之下其實很難翻譯，尤其是來回在過去與現在之間的英文動詞時態極簡卻有效地形成回想敘述的角度與對比，但中文幾乎無法同樣簡潔有力地傳達。我只能盡力而為啦，總之是非常有趣又有挑戰性的練習。Here's to hoping for a hopeful year!

〈野鳶尾〉

我苦難的盡頭

有一扇門

聽我說：你們所稱的死亡

我記得

頭上有聲響，松枝搖曳。

然後沉寂。微弱陽光

閃動在乾燥的表面

這樣存活是可怕的

剩下意識

埋在黑暗的土裡

然後結束了：你們害怕的，有

靈魂卻無法

言語，突然終止，僵硬的泥土

彎拱少許。然後我想是

鳥在矮灌木間飛跳

你們不記得

自另一個世界穿渡而來

我告訴你們我又能言語了：所有

從遺忘回來的

會找到聲音：

從我生命中心湧出

一道豐沛的泉，深藍的

影在湛碧海水上

The Wild Iris

At the end of my suffering

there was a door.

Hear me out: that which you call death

I remember.

Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting.

Then nothing. The weak sun

flickered over the dry surface.

It is terrible to survive

as consciousness

buried in the dark earth.

Then it was over: that which you fear, being

a soul and unable

to speak, ending abruptly, the stiff earth

bending a little. And what I took to be

birds darting in low shrubs.

You who do not remember

passage from the other world

I tell you I could speak again: whatever

returns from oblivion returns

to find a voice:

from the center of my life came

a great fountain, deep blue

shadows on azure seawater.