To Brooklyn Bridge
Excerpt from
To Brooklyn Bridge
Hart Crane
How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest
The seagull's wings shall dip and pivot him,
Shedding white rings of tumult, building high
Over the chained bay waters Liberty—
Then, with inviolate curve, forsake our eyes
As apparitional as sails that cross
Some page of figures to be filed away;
—Till elevators drop us from our day...
…
O harp and altar, of the fury fused,
(How could mere toil align thy choiring strings!)
Terrific threshold of the prophet's pledge,
Prayer of pariah, and the lover's cry,
Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift
Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars,
Beading thy path — condense eternity:
And we have seen night lifted in thine arms.
Under thy shadow by the piers I waited
Only in darkness is thy shadow clear.
The City's fiery parcels all undone,
Already snow submerges an iron year....
O Sleepless as the river under thee,
Vaulting the sea, the prairies' dreaming sod,
Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend
And of the curveship lend a myth to God.
节选自
《献给布鲁克林桥》
哈特·克兰
多少个黎明，江眠起寒
海鸥双翅轻点夹卷身躯
晕起环环白色喧嚣，高筑
“自由”于相接的海湾之上——
随即，以无瑕的弧线，甩开我们视线
如此幽幻，一如离港远航的船
听凭归档的某页数字；
——直至起卸机从我们的白日将我们卸下……
……
啊，竖琴与神坛，暴怒交融，
（你和声鸣奏的琴弦岂是仅凭劳苦就能排列得出！）
这槛是先知的誓言，
贱民的祈祷，和爱人的呼喊的最佳入口，
红绿灯再次倏地扫过你
浑然一体的成语，星辰圣洁的叹息，
串起你的路径——凝固永恒：
我们已望见夜被你用双臂托起。
我在你的影子下靠立码头等候
唯有在黑暗中你的身影才清晰。
这座城市灼热的邮包都已拆开，
大雪已经掩没这铁也似的一年……
啊，你不眠如脚下的江河，
横贯江海，那草原的梦土，
向我们这等卑微者不时屈尊、扫荡吧
还将那道弧幻化借与上帝。
翻译：高维艺术
