上一次家族聚會,是丹泉爸去年大壽之時。在那之前,丹泉已經有五年沒有見過自家父母姐弟之外其他任何親戚了。可以想見去年那天其他五親六戚終於拜見到丹泉的御顏之後,抱怨的抱怨、讚嘆的讚嘆、指責的指責、不知所措的不知所措•••幸好那天丹泉作東,灌兩杯珍藏的九二年紅酒,一晚上也就很快過去了。
丹泉是不譯詩的,因為詩基本上不可譯。但是前一陣子發了瘋生平第一次可能也是最後一次譯了一首詩,原因無他,只是因為丹泉對家族聚會,有著和本詩作者一般的感覺•••
家族聚會 by Sylvia Plath
我聽見外面街上
車門砰然關閉;人聲越來越近;
斷續的話語殘篇
以及高跟鞋的敲擊;
門鈴的銅爪
撕裂了正午的熱意;
瞬間的停頓;
我呆板的脈搏聲
對抗著強弩之末的沉寂
現在門從裡面打開了
哦,聽那人們會面時的交錯音─
笑聲及招呼的尖韻:
總是胖胖地,喘不過氣來,
饗每人頰上一個油膩響吻的
伊莉莎白姑媽;
喏,那鮮嫩愉快的尖叫
來自珍表姐,咱們眸色已褪
雙手猶如緊張蝴蝶的
老處女;
似碎木般粗糙
壓倒這一切的
是保羅叔叔刺耳的男中音
最小的姪兒發出不悅的哀鳴
對這謁見行列,流著唾液
像是高聳岩壁上的跳水者
我在樓梯頂端立
漩渦對著我獰笑,
發揮海綿般的吸收力
我拋開自我
捨命縱身躍進
[Family Reunion] --Sylvia Plath
Outside in the street I hear
A car door slam; voices coming near;
Incoherent scraps of talk
And high heels clicking up the walk;
The doorbell rends the noonday heat
With copper claws;
A second’s pause;
The dull drums of my pulses beat
Against a silence wearing thin.
The door now opens from within.
Oh, hear the clash of people meeting--
The laughter and the scream of greeting:
Fat always, and out of breath,
A greasy smack on every cheek
From Aunt Elizabeth;
There, that’s the pink, pleased squeak
Of cousin Jane, our spinster with
The faded eyes
And hands like nervous butterflies;
While rough as splintered wood
Across them all
Rasps the jarring baritone of uncle Paul;
The youngest nephew gives a fretful whine
And drools at the reception line.
Like a diver on a lofty spar of land
Atop the flight of stairs I stand.
A whirlpool leers at me,
Absorbent as a sponge;
I cast off my identity
And make the fatal plunge.
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