书信存档 | 《未与你共度的一切》中英文

Gerald Durrell写给妻子Lee McGeorge

中文：

现在我要告诉你一些事情。

我看过无数次日出日落，无论皑皑大地，苍茫荒林和连绵群山都被笼罩在光芒之中，在大海上，为五彩的云朵增添上一抹血橘色，在无垠的大海上划进划出。

我曾看过无数次月亮：满月如金币，寒月洁白似冰屑，新月宛如小天鹅的羽毛。

我曾看过大海平静如止，颜色如缎，或蓝如翠鸟，或如玻璃般透明，抑或如乌黑褶皱的泡沫，沉重而危险的翻动着。

我感受过来自南极的烈风，寒冷呼啸着像一个走失的儿童；也曾感受过如爱人呼吸般的柔风；

那掺杂着苦涩的咸味和海草死亡气息的海风；弥散着森林大地肥沃土壤气息和千万种花香的山风。

狂风涛海如同酵母发酵起沫，或海水轻拍海岸如抚摸小猫一般。

我了解宁静：一口新井中寒冷又朴实的宁静；一个深洞中无情又冷酷的宁静；炎热迷离的午后万物被炎炎烈日催眠的宁静；一曲美妙音乐结束灵魂被洗涤一空的宁静。

我听过夏日蝉鸣，如芒在骨。

我听过树蛙在无数萤火虫点亮的森林中演奏着如巴赫管弦乐般美妙复杂的旋律。

我听过啄羊鹦鹉飞跃冰川叫喊着，像老人呻吟着走向大海。

我听过声嘶力竭的街道商贩成交皮草生意的叫嚷，好像是对他们鎏金妻子的赞美；响尾蛇清脆却不连贯的警告声；成群结队的蝙蝠的刺耳叫声；马鹿在齐膝的紫石楠中的咆哮。

我听过狼群在冬夜对月长嚎，红吼猴啸震山林。

我听过珊瑚群中异彩斑斓的鱼群发出的吱吱、呱呱和呢喃。

我见过蜂鸟如同宝石一般围绕着开红花的树闪烁，如陀螺一般哼鸣作响。

我见过飞鱼如水银一般穿越蓝色海浪，用他们的尾翼在海面上划下银色痕迹。

我见过琵鹭像朱红的旗帜从鸟巢飞往鸟群。

我见过漆黑洳焦的鲸鱼，在如矢车菊般的蓝色海洋中停留，呼吸间创造了一个凡尔赛宫的喷泉。

我见过阳光熨展蝴蝶的翅膀，它浮现、停顿、又扇动。

我见过鲜如火焰的老虎在长草之中亲昵嬉戏。

我曾被愤怒的乌鸦俯冲攻击，如魔鬼的爪牙从黑暗中顺滑。

我曾躺在温暖如牛奶、柔顺如丝绸的水中，任一群海豚在我身边嬉戏。

我曾遇到过无数生灵，曾看过无数美景……而这一切却不能与你共度，这是我最大的遗憾。

这些事情我都想与你共度，才不枉此生没有虚度。

为了有你一分钟的陪伴，我愿放弃这一切，为你明眸，皓齿，朱唇，为你笑魇如花，顾盼生辉，为你双瞳剪水，霞姿月韵。

尤其是你善良又令人惊喜的心，那是只有我有权利开发的宝藏。

英文：

Now let me tell you something.

I have seen a thousand sunsets and sunrises, on land where it floodsforest and mountains with honey coloured light,at sea where it rises and sets like a blood orange in a multicoloured nest of cloud, slipping in and out of the vast ocean.

I have seen a thousand moons: harvest moons like gold coins, winter moons as white as ice chips, new moons like baby swans' feathers.

I have seen seas as smooth as if painted, coloured like shot silk or blue as a kingfisheror transparentas glass or black and crumpled with foam, moving ponderouslyandmurderously.

I have felt winds straight from the South Pole, bleak and wailing like a lost child; winds as tender and warm as a lover's breath;

winds that carried the astringentsmell of salt and the death of seaweeds; winds that carried the moist rich smell of a forest floor, the smell of a million flowers.

Fierce winds that churned and moved the sea like yeast, or winds that made the waters lap at the shore like a kitten.

I have known silence: the cold, earthy silence at the bottom of a newly dug well; theimplacablestony silence of a deep cave;

the hot, drugged midday silence when everything is hypnotisedand stilled into silence by the eye of the sun; the silence when great music ends.

I have heard summer cicadascry so that the sound seems stitched into your bones.

I have heard tree frogs in an orchestration as complicated as Bach singing in a forest lit by a million emerald fireflies.

I have heard the Keascalling over grey glaciers that groaned to themselves like old people as they inched their way to the sea.

I have heard the hoarse street vendor cries of the mating Fur seals as they sang to theirsleekgolden wives,the crisp staccato admonishmentof the Rattlesnake, the cobwebsqueak of the Bat and the belling roar of the Red deer knee-deep in purple heather.

I have heard Wolves baying at a winter's moon, Red howlersmaking the forest vibrate with their roaring cries.

I have heard the squeak, purr and grunt of a hundred multi-coloured reef fishes.

I have seen hummingbirds flashing like opalsround a tree of scarlet blooms, humming like a top.

I have seen flying fish, skittering like quicksilver across the bluewaves, drawing silver lines on the surface with their tails.

I have seen Spoonbillsflying home to roost like a scarlet banner across the sky.

I have seen Whales, black as tar, cushioned on a cornflowerblue sea,creating aVersaillesof fountain with their breath.

I have watched butterflies emerge and sit, trembling, while the sun irons their wings smooth.

I have watched Tigers, like flames, mating in the long grass.

I have been dive-bombed by an angry Raven, black and glossy as the Devil's hoof.

I have lain in water warm as milk, soft as silk, while around me played ahost of Dolphins.

I have met a thousand animals and seen a thousand wonderful things …

All this I did without you.

This was my loss.

All this I want to do with you.

This will be my gain.

All this I would gladly have forgone for the sake of one minute of your company, for your laugh, your voice, your eyes, hair, lips, body,and above all for your sweet, ever surprising mind which is an enchanting quarry in which it is my privilege to delve.