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The Wings
Something hangs in back of me,
I can't see it, can't move it.
I know it's black
a hump on my back.
It's heavy. You
can't see it.
What's in it? Don't tell me
you don't know. It's
what you told me about―
black
inimicak power, cold
whirling out of it and
around me and
sweeping you flat.
But what if,
like a camel, it's
pure energy I store,
and carry humped and heavy?
Not black, not
that terror, stupidity
of cold rage; or black
only for being pent there?
What if released in air
it became a white
source of light, a fountain
of light? Could all that weight
be the power of flight?
Look inward: see me
with embryo wings, one
feathered in soot, the other
blazing ciliations of ember, pale
flare-pinions. Well―
could I go
on one wing,
the white one?
-------
from The Sorrow Dance(1967)
一对翅膀
翻译\ 文壮飞
有个东西悬挂在我的背后,
我看不到它,移不开它。
我知道它是黑色的,
一个驼峰在我背部。
沉重。你
不能够看见它。
里面是什么?别告诉我
你不知道。它是
你告诉我的——
黑色
敌意的力量,寒冷
在它急旋的局外
围绕着我,并且
正好席卷着你
但要是
如同一匹骆驼,它是
我所存储的纯洁活力
并携带着驼峰和沉重,将会怎样?
不是黑色,不是
那种恐怖,愚昧
冷酷狂暴的,或是黑色
仅仅为了生命被关闭那儿
仿佛被释放到空气中
它变成了白色
光的来源,一座光的喷泉
那会怎样?能一切负载
成为飞翔的动力?
往内心注视:看着我
带着胚芽的一对翅膀,一只
羽毛上粘着烟灰,另一只
闪耀着睫毛的余烬,苍白的
发光的小齿轮。好啊——
我能继续用
一只翅膀,
这只白翅膀飞翔?
---------来自丹妮丝·莱乌尔托芙的《悲伤舞蹈》集子(1967) |
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