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死者所知

安‧賽克斯敦

獻給母親，一九○二年三月生，一九五九年三月歿

　和父親，一九○○年二月生，一九五九年六月歿

都走了，說著走出了教堂，

拒絕加入去墓地的僵硬行列，

讓死者獨自坐在柩車上。

這是六月。　我厭倦於做勇者。

我們駕車去鱈角。　我休養自身，

當融融的太陽自天空下降，

當海水揮舞像一扇鐵門，

而我們相觸。　有人在另一種國度死亡。

情人啊，風刮進來，像陣陣石塊，

從心臟發白的海水，當我們相撫，

我們便完全進入愛撫。　無人孤獨。

男人殺人為此，或與此相當的事物。

死者又怎樣呢？　他們赤足而眠，

在石舟之中。　死者比海水

更像頑石，比停止的海。　死者

拒絕祝福，喉，眼，指節骨。

──余光中譯

The Truth the Dead Know

Anne Sexton

For my Mother, born March 1902, died March 1959

and my Father, born February 1900, died June 1959

Gone, I say and walk from church,

refusing the stiff procession to the grave,

letting the dead ride alone in the hearse.

It is June.  I am tired of being brave.

We drive to the Cape.  I cultivate

myself where the sun gutters from the sky,

where the sea swings in like an iron gate

and we touch.  In another country people die.

My darling, the wind falls in like stones

from the whitehearted water and when we touch

we enter touch entirely.  No one's alone.

Men kill for this, or for as much.

And what of the dead?  They lie without shoes

in the stone boats.  They are more like stone

than the sea would be if it stopped.  They refuse

to be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.