ko-ko cu-ca Mockingbird

因為我不能停下來等待死亡

Emily Dickinson

因為我不能停下來等待死亡

他好心地停下來等我；

馬車只容得下我們

和永恆一夥。

車行得很慢；他並不著急，

而我拋開了一切，

取消了正事，取消了閒暇，

表示對他的體貼。

車過了學校，只見孩子們

正放假，擠排成一圈，

車過了滿田睽睽的玉米，

車過了太陽西偏。

車在一座房屋前停下，

好像是土地隆起；

屋頂幾乎是看不見，

屋簷，不過是土堤。

後來，過了好幾個世紀，

但感覺比那天都短：

最初我只當驛車的馬頭

是朝著永恆在進展。

──余光中譯

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death----

He kindly stopped for me--------

The Carriage held but just Ourselves---

And Immortality.

We slowly drove―

He knew no haste

And I had put away My labor and My Leisure too,

For His Civility―

We passed the School,

where Children strove At Recess―

in the Ring―

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain―

We passed the Setting Sun―

Or rather―

He passed Us―

The Dews drew quivering and chill―

For only Gossamer, my Gown―

My Tippet―only Tulle―

We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground―

The Roof was scarcely visible―

The Cornice―in the Ground―

Since then―

‘tis Centuries―and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses’

Heads Were toward Eternity―

＊

我的生命關閉過兩次

我的生命關閉過兩次才關上；

現在還需要等待

看永恆是否還會再開啟，

讓第三件大事揭開：

其重大，其不可思議

不下於前兩次所遇：

揮別，是我們所知於天國，

也是所求於地獄。

──余光中譯

My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close

MY life closed twice before its close;

It yet remains to see

If Immortality unveil

A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive,

As these that twice befell.

Parting is all we know of heaven,

And all we need of hell.