《失败与飞翔》 by 吉尔伯特

 

失败与飞翔

—— 杰克·吉尔伯特 (Jack Gilbert)

 

人们总是忘了伊卡洛斯也曾飞翔。

爱情走到尽头时也是如此，

或是婚姻失败了，人们便说

他们早知这是个错误，人人都说

它不会长久。她已经够大了，

应该明白。但任何值得去做的事，

都值得去做，即使未能尽如人意。

就像那个夏天在大海边，

岛的另一端，当爱情

正从她身上消退。那些夜晚星辰

炽烈燃烧，如此璀璨

任何人都会告诉你它们绝不会长久。

每个清晨，她都睡在我的床上，

像一次神秘的造访，她的温柔

如同晨雾中伫立的羚羊。

每个午后，我看着她游泳归来，

穿越滚烫的石砾地，

她的身后是海的光芒，

而另一边是广阔的天空。我们

吃午餐时听着她说话。他们怎么能说

婚姻失败了呢？就像那些从普罗旺斯

归来的人（在它仍是普罗旺斯的时候）

说那里很漂亮，但食物油腻。

我相信伊卡洛斯在坠落时并未失败，

而只是走向了辉煌的终点。

 

Failing and Flying

Jack Gilbert

 

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.

It’s the same when love comes to an end,

or the marriage fails and people say

they knew it was a mistake, that everybody

said it would never work. That she was

old enough to know better. But anything

worth doing is worth doing badly.

Like being there by that summer ocean

on the other side of the island while

love was fading out of her, the stars

burning so extravagantly those nights that

anyone could tell you they would never last.

Every morning she was asleep in my bed

like a visitation, the gentleness in her

like antelope standing in the dawn mist.

Each afternoon I watched her coming back

through the hot stony field after swimming,

the sea light behind her and the huge sky

on the other side of that. Listened to her

while we ate lunch. How can they say

the marriage failed? Like the people who

came back from Provence (when it was Provence)

and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.

I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,

but just coming to the end of his triumph.