Richard Wilbur
Obscurely yet most surely called to praise,
As sometimes summer calls us all,I said
The hills are heavens full of branching ways
Where star-nosed moles fly overhead the dead;
I said the trees are mines in air,I said
See how the sparrow burrows in the sky!
And then I wondered why this mad instead
Perverts our praise to uncreation,why
Such savor's in this wrenching things awry.
Does sense so stale that it must needs derange
The world to know it?To a praiseful eye
Should it not be enough of fresh and strange
That trees grow green, and moles van course in clay,
And sparrows sweep the ceiling of our day?
模糊而肯定,我应邀赞颂,
像夏天常常邀请我们那样,
我说山是布满岔道的天空,
星鼻子鼹鼠在死尸上飞翔。
我说树木是空中的矿井,
看麻雀怎样在天空打洞!
为何病态地替换,我纳闷,
导致毁灭并歪曲我的赞颂;
为何对扭曲事物津津乐道。
难道感官如此陈旧和迟钝,
世界不颠倒反而不能知晓?
赞赏之眼只见树木绿而纯,
鼹鼠土里打洞,麻雀飞过白昼,
脱颖而清新,这不也已足够?
理查德·威尔伯(Richard Wilbur,1921—),美国当代“桂冠诗人”。《夏季赞》是一首传统的十四行诗。它不仅运用了传统的“抑扬格”韵律和abab bcbc cdcd ee的押韵体系,同时还对现代派诗歌的写作手法和认知方式进行了尖锐的批评。在《夏季赞》中,威尔伯想象自己是一位现代诗人,应邀写一首赞颂夏季的诗歌。但是他所想到的都是一些难以被普通读者接受的奇想。现代诗人不把“树木”想象成树木,而把它们想象成“空中的矿井”,“鼹鼠在泥土里打洞”对他们来说已经是过时的说法,它们应该是在泥土里“飞翔”。相反,林雀不是在空中飞翔,而是在天空“打洞”。在诗里,威尔伯对这种想象的合理性提出质疑。“难道世界不颠倒反而不能知晓?”在他看来,树就是树,鼹鼠在泥土里打洞,麻雀在天空飞翔,这已经很自然,同时也很清新、很优美。