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Good friend, for Jesus's sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here
Blessed be the man that spares these stones
Cursed be he that moves my bones
1616年4月23日,莎士比亞52歲生日這天,與世長辭。生前,他為自己撰寫了墓誌銘。
1912年,弘一法師李叔同將其翻譯成中文:
君亦顧謾,天之明命,毋傷吾骨。
有保我之墓者,吾必佑之。
有移我之骨者,吾必殛之。
後來,弘一法師又推出了白話版本:
好朋友,看在上帝的臉上,
請勿來掘這裏的骸骨。
祝福保護這些墓石的人們,
詛咒搬移我骨的人!
Here lies one whose name was writ in water
此地長眠者,聲名水上書
(周玨良譯)
“In water writ” 和 “in marble” 相對,前者表示 “用水書寫”,引申為很快被忘記,後者表示 “用大理石雕刻”,引申為長留人間。
所以濟慈的墓誌銘有人翻譯為:斯人眠於此,其名如浮雲。
另外,推薦大家去看濟慈的傳記電影《明亮的星》(Bright Star),講述了這位天才詩人和鄰居芬妮之間刻骨銘心的愛情故事,也記錄了他短暫的一生。
友情提醒要備好紙巾
O rare
哦,難得一見的
英國劇作家本·瓊生,真·短小精悍。
I knew if I stayed around long enough,
something like this would happen.
愛爾蘭劇作家蕭伯納活了94歲,一直很有幽默感。
蕭伯納有很多語錄,比方說:
Your future depends on your dreams. So go to sleep.
未來取決於夢。所以睡覺去吧。
I had a lover's quarrel with the world.
如愛侶般吵了一架。
弗羅斯特以一首《未選擇的路》(The Road Not Taken) 名揚四海,短短的幾行詩句,承載了多少人的成長與歎息。
The Road Not Taken
未選擇的路
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
黃色的樹林裏分出兩條路,
And sorry I could not travel both
可惜我不能同時去涉足,
And be one traveler, long I stood
我在那路口久久佇立,
And looked down one as far as I could
我向著一條路極目望去,
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
直到它消失在叢林深處。
Then took the other, as just as fair,
但我卻選了另外一條路,
And having perhaps the better claim,
它荒草萋萋,十分幽寂,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
顯得更誘人、更美麗,
Though as for that the passing there
雖然在這兩條小路上,
Had worn them really about the same,
都很少留下旅人的足跡,
And both that morning equally lay
雖然那天清晨落葉滿地,
In leaves no step had trodden black.
兩條路都未經腳印汙染。
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
嗬,留下一條路等改日再見!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
但我知道路徑延綿無盡頭,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
恐怕我難以再回返。
I shall be telling this with a sigh
也許多少年後在某個地方,
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
我將輕聲歎息把往事回顧,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
一片樹林裏分出兩條路,
I took the one less traveled by,
而我選了人跡更少的一條,
And that has made all the difference.
從此決定了我一生的道路。
他的墓誌銘,頗有幾分調侃意味。
而他為妻子寫得墓誌銘,則頗為動人。
Together wing to wing
and oar to oar
在天比翼,
在地同舟。
不禁想起元代書法家趙孟頫妻子管道昇的那句:
我與你生同一個衾[qīn],
死同一個槨[guǒ]。
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!
冷然一瞥
騎者,馳過
短短三行,詩人睥睨天下、笑對死亡的霸氣,躍然紙上 。
當麵對愛情時,他卻充滿柔情。一首《當你老了》(When You Are Old)寄托著多少深情與愛慕。
When You Are Old
《當你老了》
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
當你老了,頭發花白,睡意沉沉,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
倦坐在爐邊,取下這本書來,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
慢慢讀著,追夢當年的眼神
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
你那柔美的神采與深幽的暈影。
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
多少人愛過你曇花一現的身影,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
愛過你的美貌,以虛偽或真情,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you
惟獨一人曾愛你那朝聖者的心,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
愛你哀戚的臉上歲月的留痕。
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
在爐罩邊低眉彎腰,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
憂戚沉思,喃喃而語,
And paced upon the mountains overhead
愛情是怎樣逝去,又怎樣步上群山,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
怎樣在繁星之間藏住了臉。
Called back.
受喚而歸。
美國女詩人狄金森過世前一天,給表妹們寫了個便條:
Little sisters, Called back.
妹妹們,我被召喚回去了。
這句話後來就成為她的墓誌銘。
狄金森一生寫詩約2000 首,其中不少關於死亡。
下麵這句,就是個很好的墓誌銘:
Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me
因為我不能停候死亡
死亡善意地停候我
Under the wide and starry sky ,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly I lie,
And I laid me down with a will;
this be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Here is the sailor, home from the sea ,
And the Hunter home from the hill.
星空點點
我在此處長眠
生何歡,死何甜
奔赴九泉,心有一念
在我碑上,請銘刻此詩篇
他安息在久已向往之地
如水手,告別海洋
如獵人,回歸故鄉
英國小說家史蒂文森的小說,一度被歸為兒童文學與恐怖小說,為弗吉尼亞·伍爾夫(Virginia Woolf)等正統文學界所不待見。
不過現在,史蒂文森的價值已被重新發掘。比方說,他的作品被認為見證了南太平洋的殖民史。
Nothing of him that does fade
But does suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange
受到海水的變幻
化成瑰寶,富麗而奇怪
1822 年,英國詩人雪萊的船,在海上遇到風暴,年僅 30 歲的雪萊不幸辭世。被撈上來後,雪萊的臉、手等部位已經被魚吃掉,口袋裏卻還放著古希臘悲劇作家索福克勒斯的作品和濟慈的詩集。
雪萊的墓誌銘上有兩個拉丁文: Cor Cordium (英文:Heart of hearts,中文:眾心之心),下麵是雪萊生前最喜愛的莎士比亞的詩句,也正好呼應雪萊溺水而亡的悲劇。
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in the night
God said: Let Newton be, all was light
上帝說:要有牛頓,於是有了光明
英國詩人亞曆山大·蒲柏(Alexander Pope,1688-1744)因為小時候生病,脊椎有問題,身高隻有137公分,但他是個偉大的詩人。
蒲柏為牛頓撰寫的墓誌銘,深刻雋永,然而,牛頓的墓碑上並沒有刻這兩句。
Two things fill me with constantly increasing admiration and awe
The longer and more earnestly I reflected on them
The starry heavens without and the moral law within
德國哲學家康德的墓誌銘,上半部分為德文,下半部分為俄語,餘光中給出了翻譯:
有二事焉,常在此心,
敬而畏之,與日俱新:
上則為星辰,內則為德法。
美學家李澤厚,也翻譯了部分:
位我上者,燦爛星空;
道德律令,在我心中。
He lived, he loved, he wrote
活過,愛過,寫過
法國小說家司湯達的墓誌銘,從法語翻譯成英文和中文後,簡短之中,又有千言萬語。
馬丁·路德·金並沒有親眼見到自己在林肯紀念堂台階上著名演講中的夢想成為現實。
在他的理想實現之後,後人給了他這樣的墓誌銘:
Free at last. Free at last.
終於自由了。終於自由了。
Thank God Almighty I'm Free at Last.
感謝上帝,我終於自由了。