Page 11 - 普台之星14

“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the
best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so
companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than
when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude
is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent
student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert.”

「我認為大部分的時間若能獨處，其實是有益健康的。若有人相伴，即便是出類拔萃者，很快地也會令
人覺得厭倦且浪費時間。我喜歡獨處，從未覺得哪個同伴比「孤寂」來得更適合相伴。大多數的時候，我們
在人群之中要比在自己房中來得孤單。一個真正在思考或是工作的人總是孤單的，不管他身在何處，因為真
正的孤寂不是以人與人之間的距離來衡量的。真正用功的學生，即便身在劍橋大學擁擠的校舍裡，亦如荒漠
的苦行僧一樣孤寂。」

又如，於某次母親節前夕，至禪堂恭誦《佛說父母恩重難報經》，誦及「母年一百歲，常憂八十兒」時，便想
到自己雖已年過半百，但還是常讓母親憂心。想著想著，學生時代所讀葉慈 (W. B. Yeats) 的 < 老媽子之歌 > 就自然
而然地浮現了。回宿舍後，振筆直書，當晚就把它翻成中文，成為當年母親節思親的紀錄：

The Song of the Old Mother by William Butler Yeats < 老媽子之歌 > 葉慈
I rise in the dawn, and I kneel and blow 我黎明即起，我跪地吹氣
Till the seed of the fire flicker and glow; 直到火苗放光搖曳；
And then I must scrub and bake and sweep 我得又擦、又煮、又清掃
Till stars are beginning to blink and peep; 直到星星眨眼偷瞄；
And the young lie long and dream in their bed 孩兒懶睡在床做美夢，
Of the matching of ribbons for bosom and head, 夢見彩帶妝點頭與胸，
And their day goes over in idleness, 荒廢時日無所事，
And they sigh if the wind but lift a tress: 只嘆微風亂髮絲；
While I must work because I am old, 而我仍須辛勞因我老，
And the seed of the fire gets feeble and cold. 恰似火苗漸衰溫暖少。

還有一次，某年十月底，當我疲憊地回到宿舍，才發現自己的生日已過。雖然並不喜歡過生日，也不習慣讓朋
友慶生，但忘記自己出世（或入世？）的日子，還是讓我當晚感到一股幽幽的失落。後來便藉秋天出生的詩人狄倫·
湯瑪斯 (Dylan Thomas) 的作品，略舒己懷。他的 < 十月之詩 >(Poem in October) 描寫他在三十歲生日那天一大早，
鎮上民眾依然沉睡之時，他獨自爬上山丘，想著逝去的青春，期許自己仍能保持赤子之心。我翻譯的是本詩最末兩段：

And there could I marvel my birthday 在此，原本我整個生日將於狂想中度過，
Away but the weather turned around. And the true 但氣溫驟轉。
Joy of the long dead child sang burning 那久逝的孩子唱出真心的喜悅，燃燒在陽光中。
In the sun. 那是我第三十個年頭
It was my thirtieth 頂天而立，於彼時彼地，
Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon 在盛夏正午
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood. 然腳下城鎮已被落葉埋在十月血中
O may my heart's truth 啊！願赤子之心
Still be sung 仍被傳唱
On this high hill in a year's turning. 於此高丘，在歲月更替。

翻轉心境，譯詩傳情 9