Karl Shapiro - Manhole Covers 汉译

The beauty of manhole covers—what of that?

Like medals struck by a great savage kahn,

Like mayan calendar stones, unliftable, indecipherable,

Not like old electrum, chased and scored,

Mottoed and sculptured to a turn,

But notched and whelked and pocked and smashed

With the great company names:

Gentle Bethlehem, smiling United States.

This rustproof artifact of my street,

Long after roads are melted away, will lie

Sidewise in the grave of the iron-old world,

Bitten at the edges,

Strong with its cryptic American,

Its dated beauty.

窨井盖

卡尔·夏皮罗

窨井盖的那种美——那又怎样？

像一位凶猛大汗铸就的勋章，

像难懂又移不动的马雅历法碑，

不像刻过或斫过的古代银金

没有恰到好处的格言或雕刻，

只是被凿、被扭、被敲打出来

几个大公司麻麻点点的名称：

温和的伯利恒、盈盈微笑的合众国。

我街上这种防锈的工艺制品

在道路融化之后很久，将歪斜在

铁器时代的古墓里——

边缘已经锈蚀，

富于神秘的亚美利加风格，

富于古老的美。