《失敗與飛翔》 by 吉爾伯特

 

失敗與飛翔

—— 傑克·吉爾伯特 (Jack Gilbert)

 

人們總是忘了伊卡洛斯也曾飛翔。

愛情走到盡頭時也是如此，

或是婚姻失敗了，人們便說

他們早知這是個錯誤，人人都說

它不會長久。她已經夠大了，

應該明白。但任何值得去做的事，

都值得去做，即使未能盡如人意。

就像那個夏天在大海邊，

島的另一端，當愛情

正從她身上消退。那些夜晚星辰

熾烈燃燒，如此璀璨

任何人都會告訴你它們絕不會長久。

每個清晨，她都睡在我的床上，

像一次神秘的造訪，她的溫柔

如同晨霧中佇立的羚羊。

每個午後，我看著她遊泳歸來，

穿越滾燙的石礫地，

她的身後是海的光芒，

而另一邊是廣闊的天空。我們

吃午餐時聽著她說話。他們怎麽能說

婚姻失敗了呢？就像那些從普羅旺斯

歸來的人（在它仍是普羅旺斯的時候）

說那裏很漂亮，但食物油膩。

我相信伊卡洛斯在墜落時並未失敗，

而隻是走向了輝煌的終點。

 

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.