somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
有一處地方我從未去過(guò),欣然超越
任何經(jīng)驗(yàn),你的雙眼有種沉默:
你最纖弱的手勢(shì)里有物將我圍繞,
或是,靠得太近,我不能觸碰
你最輕的一瞥,就能輕易地將我松開(kāi)
縱使我如合起的手指般將自己緊閉,
你總是一瓣一瓣松開(kāi)我,如春天開(kāi)啟
(巧妙而神秘地碰觸)第一朵玫瑰
或是如若你要閉合我,我和
我的生命會(huì)優(yōu)雅地驟然合上,
一如這朵花的心,想象
雪,小心翼翼從四方飄落;
這世上我感受到的,無(wú)物能及你
極濃烈的纖弱之力,其質(zhì)地
以其國(guó)度的本色驅(qū)動(dòng)我
在每一鼻息間,體驗(yàn)死亡與永恒
(我不知道你身上有什么本領(lǐng)閉合
又開(kāi)啟我;只是我心里明白
你眼神的聲音,比玫瑰更深邃)
沒(méi)有人,哪怕是雨,也沒(méi)有如此的小手
e.e.cummings(愛(ài)德華·艾斯特林·康明斯,1894—1962)原名Edward Estlin Cummings,是美國(guó)著名詩(shī)人、畫(huà)家、評(píng)論家、作家和劇作家。出生于美國(guó)馬薩諸塞州劍橋的一戶(hù)書(shū)香人家,受教于劍橋拉丁語(yǔ)學(xué)校和哈佛大學(xué)。在美國(guó)20世紀(jì)的現(xiàn)代詩(shī)人中,大概屬康明斯與弗羅斯特(Robert Frost)最受歡迎,文學(xué)史評(píng)價(jià)也高。
康明斯在詩(shī)中對(duì)語(yǔ)言進(jìn)行了獨(dú)特的“實(shí)驗(yàn)”,對(duì)傳統(tǒng)詩(shī)歌進(jìn)行了大膽的革新。他發(fā)表的詩(shī)歌在署名時(shí)總是用小寫(xiě)的“e. e. cummings”,而這個(gè)最初由于排字工人粗心造成的錯(cuò)誤恰好迎合了他追求的新意。在他的詩(shī)中,有些詩(shī)集的題名離奇古怪,詩(shī)行參差不齊,在語(yǔ)法和用詞上也是別出心裁。除了強(qiáng)調(diào)一般不用大寫(xiě),連I和自己的名字也是小寫(xiě)。
這首康明斯的情詩(shī)名作《有一處地方我從未去過(guò)》,是他37歲的作品,描寫(xiě)了愛(ài)情的曼妙,仿如神恩。整首詩(shī)抒寫(xiě)情人(女性)纖弱內(nèi)美的特質(zhì),對(duì)作者(男性)綿密深遠(yuǎn)的美妙感染力。全詩(shī)運(yùn)用大自然的意象——春天、玫瑰、小雨等來(lái)描繪情人,暗喻美的力量,清新自然。愛(ài)人如水,弱質(zhì)纖纖,然而一舉手一投足,甚或一個(gè)眼神足以將你融化。若問(wèn)世上何以有這種神奇之事,這恰恰就是愛(ài)情的力量。