杰克•吉尔伯特：辩护状（黄灿然译）
到处是悲伤。到处是屠杀。如果婴儿们
不是在某个地方挨饿，也是在别的
什么地方。鼻孔里有苍蝇。
但我们享受我们的生活，因为上帝要我们这样。
否则夏天黎明前的早晨就不会
如此美好。孟加拉虎就不会
长得如此奇迹般健壮。喷泉边那些
贫困的女人一起在她们已知道的痛苦
与她们未来的困厄之间
开怀大笑，她们欢笑，而村子里
有人病得很重。在加尔各答
可怕的街道上，每天都有欢笑，
而女人们在孟买的笼屋里欢笑。
如果我们否定我们的幸福，抗拒我们的满足，
那我们就是在减少她们的匮乏的重要性。
我们必须冒愉悦的风险。我们可以不寻欢作乐，
但不可以没有愉悦。没有享受。我们必须有
那种顽固性，在这世界残忍的火炉中接受
我们那份喜悦。把不公正作为衡量
我们注意力的唯一尺度，等于是赞美魔鬼。
如果上帝的火车头把我们撞倒，
我们应当感谢这结局的强度。
我们必须承认，尽管发生种种事情，可依然有音乐。
我们再次站在一艘深夜停泊于
一个小港口的小船的船头，
细看沉睡中的岛屿：海边
是三家关闭的咖啡馆和一盏在燃烧的无罩灯。
在寂静中听见一艘慢慢出现又退隐的划艇
那微弱的橹声，真的值得
往后多年所有的悲伤。
A Brief for the Defense Jack Gilbert
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered caf�s and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.
不是在某个地方挨饿，也是在别的
什么地方。鼻孔里有苍蝇。
但我们享受我们的生活，因为上帝要我们这样。
否则夏天黎明前的早晨就不会
如此美好。孟加拉虎就不会
长得如此奇迹般健壮。喷泉边那些
贫困的女人一起在她们已知道的痛苦
与她们未来的困厄之间
开怀大笑，她们欢笑，而村子里
有人病得很重。在加尔各答
可怕的街道上，每天都有欢笑，
而女人们在孟买的笼屋里欢笑。
如果我们否定我们的幸福，抗拒我们的满足，
那我们就是在减少她们的匮乏的重要性。
我们必须冒愉悦的风险。我们可以不寻欢作乐，
但不可以没有愉悦。没有享受。我们必须有
那种顽固性，在这世界残忍的火炉中接受
我们那份喜悦。把不公正作为衡量
我们注意力的唯一尺度，等于是赞美魔鬼。
如果上帝的火车头把我们撞倒，
我们应当感谢这结局的强度。
我们必须承认，尽管发生种种事情，可依然有音乐。
我们再次站在一艘深夜停泊于
一个小港口的小船的船头，
细看沉睡中的岛屿：海边
是三家关闭的咖啡馆和一盏在燃烧的无罩灯。
在寂静中听见一艘慢慢出现又退隐的划艇
那微弱的橹声，真的值得
往后多年所有的悲伤。
A Brief for the Defense Jack Gilbert
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered caf�s and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.
