一首很強的224字的英語回文詩

今天在網絡上意外讀到一首英語回文詩，那回讀的難度係數真是不一般。一個字：絕！現在也掰一掰，濫竽充數，南郭一回。

我國的回文詩曆史悠久，名家比比皆是。回文詩，顧名思義，顛來倒去都能誦讀的詩。但曆來好像更被文人騷客當作一種消遣的文字遊戲，上不了台麵。然留存下來的很多名篇佳作，給人以蕩氣回腸，情趣盎然的美感。

印象深刻的回文詩中最感人、頗具意境、遣詞造句不凡的是宋代李禺寫的《夫妻互憶回文詩》。

順讀為“夫憶妻”：

枯眼望遙山隔水，
往來曾見幾心知。
壺空怕酌一杯酒，
筆下難成和韻詩。
迷路阻人離別久，
訊音無雁寄回遲。    
孤燈夜守長寥寂，
夫憶妻兮父憶兒。

倒過來讀為“妻憶夫”：

兒憶父兮妻憶夫，
寂寥長守夜燈孤。
遲回寄雁無音訊，
久別離人阻路途。
詩韻和成難下筆，
酒杯一酌怕空壺。
知心幾見曾來往，
水隔山遙望眼枯。

看看李禺運用文字的功底和駕馭文字的功力，無論順讀還是倒讀，都是那麽優美。了了數語，把孤燈下夫憶妻和妻憶夫的思念刻畫得入木三分、深情表達得淋漓盡致。豈是佩服兩字了得？這是文字遊戲麽？

英語裏，回文詩對應詞是palindrome ['pælindrəum] ，其定義是：A palindrome is a word or a phrase which is the same when read from the start or the end, for example the word wow or racecar. Or how about the phrase;  A Toyota’s a Toyota. where ever you start they are the same.

You would imagine a palindrome is pretty hard to think up, maybe the odd word could be easy enough, and with a bit of effort a phrase, well how about a 224 word poem?  要想出英語裏的回文詞或短語還不是很難，不過看看下麵這首由224個英語單詞的回文詩，不服不行。

Posted by Queuebot in Book & Lit on February 18, 2009 at 1:32 am

"Dammit I’m Mad"

by  Demetri Martin

Dammit I’m mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I’m in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level “Mad Dog”.
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I’m a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I’m it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I’d assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
“Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog”
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I’m mad.

I promise you, bar some punctuation, it reads the same forwards or backwards.