《变动世界中的鸟类学》by 沃伦

变动世界中的鸟类学

 

仅是夜晚的鸟鸣，认不出是一只什么鸟，

当我从泉边取水回来，走过屋后多石的牧场时；

但我站得那么静，头顶的天空不比水桶里的更静

 

岁月流逝，所有的地方和面孔淡去，一些人已离世，

而我站在远方，夜色依旧宁静，终于确信

我更怀念那鸟鸣时的宁静，胜过一些

后来未能实现的事情。

（林木译）

 

Ornithology in a World of Flux

Robert Penn Warren

 

It was only a bird call at evening, unidentified,

As I came from the spring with water, across the rocky back-pasture;

But so still I stood sky above was not stiller than sky in pail-water.

 

Years pass, all places and faces fade, some people have died,

And I stand in a far land, the evening still, and am at last sure

That I miss more that stillness at bird-call than some things

that were to fail later.