Black Cat

A ghost, though invisible, still is like a place
your sight can knock on, echoing; but here 
within this thick black pelt, your strongest gaze 
will be absorbed and utterly disappear:

just as a raving madman, when nothing else 
can ease him, charges into his dark night 
howling, pounds on the padded wall, and feels 
the rage being taken in and pacified.

She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen 
into her, so that, like an audience,
she can look them over, menacing and sullen,
and curl to sleep with them.
But all at once 

as if awakened, she turns her face to yours;
and with a shock, you see yourself, tiny,
inside the golden amber of her eyeballs 
suspended, like a prehistoric fly.

黑猫

一个鬼魂， 即使看不到，还是会像一个空间
你的目光可以去敲击 呼应，但是 现在 这里
在这堆厚实的黑色皮毛里 你最强烈的凝视
也会被吸入 直至完全消失

就像是一个狂暴的疯子 当没有什么
能够让他得到缓解  他冲进了自己的暗夜里
嚎叫着 一下一下重击着加了衬垫的墙， 感觉到 感觉着
愤怒被墙面吸收 平息

她看上去像把所有的目光 所有落进她身体里的
目光 都收集了起来 不动声色地 像个旁观者
这样在某个时候
她可以把它们重新拿出来审视，那些气势汹汹的阴郁的它们
然后蜷缩起身体 在它们的身旁 跟它们一起睡去

但是突然一下子

就像是从沉睡中醒了过来， 她扭转了自己的脸 面向你
在震惊中 你看到了你自己 那样渺小
在她金色的琥珀一样的眼球里面
悬挂着 像个远古时代的昆虫
 

附：

”Rilke (1875-1926), is considered one of the greatest lyric poets of modern Germany. He created the "object poem" as an attempt to describe with utmost clarity physical objects, and the "silence of their concentrated reality." In my opinion, the above poem is a prime (and successful) example of this style, in both its composition and effect. [Where is the reader that does not see and sense and know the cat in this poem, as presented?] Rilke believed in the coexistence of the material and spiritual realms, but human beings were for him only spectators of life, grasping its beauties momentarily only to lose them again. With the power of creativity an artist can try to build a bridge between two worlds, although the task is almost too great for a man. I only mention these points because I think they become relevant toward an understanding of what he is doing with this poem. Using something fairly describable (a cat) to awaken us to something mysterious, ineffable, perhaps even numinous.”

http://bookpuddle.blogspot.ca/2005/08/rilkes-black-cat_22.html