Malcolm Cowley - The Farm Died 汉译

I watched the agony of a mountain farm,

a gangrenous decay:

the farm died with the pines that sheltered it;

the arm died when the woodshed rotted away.

It died to the beat of a loose board on the barn

that flapped in the wind all night;

nobody came to drive a nail in it.

The farm died in a broken window-light.

a broken pane upstairs in the guest bedroom,

through which the autumn rain

beat down all night upon the Turkey carpet;

nobody thought to putty in a pane.

Nobody nailed another slat on the corncrib;

nobody mowed the hay;

nobody came to mend the rusty fences.

The farm died when the two boys went away,

or maybe lived till the old man was buried,

but after it was dead I loved it more,

though poison sumac grew in the empty pastures,

though ridgepoles fell, and though November winds

came all night whistling through an open door.

死去的农舍

马尔科姆·考利

我细看着山间农舍死去后的惨像，

那是坏疽般的衰败：

这农舍同护着它的松林一起死去；

农舍死去时柴火棚也在朽烂塌坏。

谷仓上松脱的板整夜在风中砰嘭——

农舍按这节拍死亡；

但没有一个人来用钉子把板钉牢。

农舍的死反映着一方碎玻璃窗上——

楼上的客人卧室里一块玻璃碎了，

秋雨就从那窗洞里

整夜地打进来，打在土耳其地毯上；

可没有人想到用油灰粘上块玻璃。

没有人再把板条钉上放玉米的囤；

没有人再收割牧草；

也没有人来修理破破烂烂的栅栏。

这农舍死于两个小伙子离家走掉，

也可说是活到那老汉入土的时候，

但死后的农舍我更爱，

尽管空荡荡的牧场上长起毒漆树，

尽管大梁已塌下，尽管十一月的风

整夜从敞开的门口打着唿哨吹来。