《變動世界中的鳥類學》by 沃倫

變動世界中的鳥類學

 

僅是夜晚的鳥鳴，認不出是一隻什麽鳥，

當我從泉邊取水回來，走過屋後多石的牧場時；

但我站得那麽靜，頭頂的天空不比水桶裏的更靜

 

歲月流逝，所有的地方和麵孔淡去，一些人已離世，

而我站在遠方，夜色依舊寧靜，終於確信

我更懷念那鳥鳴時的寧靜，勝過一些

後來未能實現的事情。

（林木譯）

 

Ornithology in a World of Flux

Robert Penn Warren

 

It was only a bird call at evening, unidentified,

As I came from the spring with water, across the rocky back-pasture;

But so still I stood sky above was not stiller than sky in pail-water.

 

Years pass, all places and faces fade, some people have died,

And I stand in a far land, the evening still, and am at last sure

That I miss more that stillness at bird-call than some things

that were to fail later.