試譯一首詩歌(3)

Not even the best of artists has any conception
that a single marble block does not contain within its excess,
and that is only attained by the hand that obeys the intellect.

The pain I flee from and the joy I hope for
are similarly hidden in you, lovely lady,
lofty and divine; but, to my mortal harm,
my art gives results the reverse of what I wish.

Love, therefore, cannot be blamed for my pain,
nor can your beauty, your hardness, or your scorn,
nor fortune, nor my destiny, nor chance.
If you hold both death and mercy in your heart at the same time,
and my lowly wits, though burning,
cannot draw from it anything but death.

(Sonnet 151, 米開朗基羅,作於約1538-44,老米關於柏拉圖藝術理論的最重要最著名的作品之一.)

即使最優秀的藝術家,
也不理解這樣一種思想.
大理石塊的肌體,
並不能被它的外殼包藏.
隻有遵順天意的雕鑿,
才能除去冗餘的遮掩,
揭示它本來的模樣.

可愛的女郎,
你高貴,聖潔的外表,
就象大理石塊的外殼,
掩藏了我想得到的歡樂,
和要避免的憂傷.
然而愚鈍笨拙,
讓我失去快樂卻收獲憂傷.

那麽,
我怎能為了痛而責怪愛!
又怎能責怪你的美麗我的命運,
你的無情和我的無份!
如果你的心中,
同時藏著慈悲和死亡,
以我的愚鈍和笨拙,
即使心狂似火,
也隻能獲取死亡!

(譯者對詩中"死亡"和"慈悲"的理解,分別代表拒絕和接受.從愛人的視角,拒絕一份感情就意味著感情的死亡,而"慈悲"的女士會不忍拒絕.)

詩歌中的女士, 老米素描中的Vittoria Colonna: