《詩歌導論》
作者:比利·柯林斯
翻譯:忒綠
我請他們拿起一首詩
朝向光線舉起
像觀看一張彩色幻燈片
或者將耳朵貼在它的中間。
我說把一隻小鼠放進詩裏
看它如何尋找出路,
或者走入詩的房間
撫摸牆壁尋找燈的開關。
我要他們滑水
滑過詩的表麵
向岸上的作者名字致意。
然而他們想做的
是用繩子把詩綁在椅子上
逼迫它坦白。
他們開始痛打它
讓它交代它的真正含義。
Introduction to Poetry
By Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.