译者 | 秦尊璐、游心泉、彼得·休斯
Immersed in the Rainy SeasonBy Xu Xiao
You walk along the avenue in gentle rain you linger by a puddle, then move onYou walk through muddy raindrops and light rain you want to persist along this moistened You are not taking the dry roadthe one of warmth and comfortas it would trap your shadow. Sunlight would make visible your hidden fearswhile the shadow resemblesSuddenly you sense its presenceWhat do the shadows contain? Two eyesor the stare of infinity?They glitter with a cold gleam in the gloomy half-light like handcuffs that might click shut at any momentYou dare not turn back, you know that there’s no sunny road aheadthough you hate the endless dampnessJust keep walking through the showers, skirting every puddle Walk with your umbrella, alone in the uncertain rainThe Oldest Sounds Should Ring Out Loud and ClearBy Er Yuan
A copper tea spoon, handed down through generationsretains a subtle patina of ageit rings with the sound of traditionit gleams with an ancient sheenListen, it’s also my nicknameresonating with my mother’s voiceI’ve made a peach wood combfor my wife and my daughterThe sound its handle makeswill ring out loud and clearThe laden car was straining up the mountain road.
It woke a pheasant in the roadside grass
then a bird perched high in a tree
I was awoken by their calls
my biorhythms all turned inside out
I cupped fresh water from a mountain spring
relishing a free wash courtesy of Nature
The noises from the car come and go
with the sound of footsteps heading down the mountain
a regular swish swish
folk with baskets on their backs scurry into the scene of life
as a couple of squirrels darted their way up two pine trees
the car comes panting up the hill
Its plate shows Sichuan and it's heading westwards
When the driver stops to drink from a spring
I ask him how far it is to Ganzi
He looked at me as if wondering about my soul
秦尊璐、Peter Hughes 译
Raindrops in the old days, fell outside
but also in the room. I saw father piggy-back me
from the west room to the east, then from the bed
to the bathroom. Outside, the sound of rain splashed
everywhere. I saw myself hiding away
thinking of father’s bare back, feeling odd
Father didn’t notice me growing up in secrecy
he was too busy with pots and pans all through the rainy night
The rainwater filled the pots and he kept emptying them
The rain outside has stopped, but the rain inside keeps falling
Drips and drops, from years ago until tonight
My young father and my teenage self
marooned in a leaky room where time’s concealed
He stood in the downpour and opened the door
The rain came down in straight lines
Obscuring all the other houses
From a distance it looks as though he turns the key
not in the lock of a wooden door
but but directly into the downpour
The door of rain is slowly opened
he enters the house that is made of rain
switches on a lamp made out of water
李玥 译
这一辑诗歌弥漫着雨水和记忆，传统惯例和引发独特见解的许多时刻。开篇的诗歌向读者呈现了一段经历的心声，名为《没人雨季》，是徐晓的作品。作者并不是一个乐观主义者，他从痛苦的经历中认识到，梦想和希望并非总是有好的结果导向。泥泞的、被雨水冲刷过的小路，是对生命的隐喻。我们最好不要过于期待持续放晴的天气。作者建议，即便面对恐惧和失望，我们也要继续在自己当下的人生道路上走下去：
就一直在雨中，仔细绕过一个个水洼
你走着，独自撑伞走在那不确切的雨中
第二首诗是二缘的作品《最旧的音质，要慢慢地喊出来》。在这首短诗中，作者表示，要将过去的精华传承给我们的后代。他有一把祖传的旧茶匙，他喜欢它轻柔的光泽和敲击时的特殊音质。这把茶匙是作者的母亲遗留下来的，它让作者想起了自己的母亲，尤其是她的声音。同样地，他也为妻子和女儿做了一把木梳，希望她们会像他珍视那把小茶匙一样珍惜这把梳子。
我做了一把桃木梳
送给妻子，也送给女儿
柄上那最旧的音质
要慢慢地喊出来
在我们的第三首诗中，作者创作了一个有趣的故事，仿佛一部充满氛围感的电影，让读者在观后还久久停留在自己的想象之中。一辆老旧的汽车费力地爬上山坡，发动机的噪音惊扰了鸟儿。紧接着，它们的鸣叫声使作者从睡梦中惊醒。整个场景都浸入在大自然之中。作者用泉水洗了洗脸；鸟儿和松鼠在这里栖息；乡民背着他们的农产品下山，脚步轻松而有节奏，是汽车司机无法比拟的。作者与司机交谈间，似乎被直击了灵魂。这是一个特定的时刻，似乎脱离了日常生活中会出现的种种细节。不过读者认为，正是这天然的山泉、清澈的水流、野生的小动物和乡间行人的步调，才让此刻变得这般有吸引力。
第四首诗是臧海英的作品《回忆，室内的雨》。作者为诗歌取了一个非常耐人寻味的标题，唤起了过往的经历。她回忆起父亲在一个大雨天，抱着她在屋里穿过房间的情景。雨下得很大，仿佛一个实实在在的物体遮挡在眼前。隐秘躲避雨滴的感觉仍然萦绕在作者心头，加之她孤独的性格也掺杂在其中。因忙于打理家务，父亲并没有留意到她孤独的童年和青春期。尽管已经过去了多年，这段记忆依然存在：
外面的雨停了，室内的雨还在下
滴滴答答，从多年前来到今晚。
年轻的父亲，少女的我
留在时间深处漏雨的房间。
本辑的最后一首诗来自小西的作品《大雨的门》。在这首诗中，雨下得尤为猛烈，以至于一切似乎都变成了水做的。甚至房子都是“雨做的”，就连结尾处打开的灯也是“水做的”。诗歌中段的部分特别有感染力：
远远看去，他用钥匙
打开的不是一扇木门
而是大雨的门。
彼得·休斯
2023年5月于意大利翁布里亚
These poems are suffused with rain and memory, tradition and moments of special insight. The first text presents the reader with the voice of experience. It is called 'Immersed in the Rainy Season’ and is the work of Xu Xiao. The speaker is not an optimist and has learned from bitter experience that dreams and hopes do not always turn out for the best. The muddy, rain-washed path becomes a metaphor for life. It is better not to expect uninterrupted sunshine. The speaker advises us to keep going on with life as it is, in spite of our fears and disappointments:Just keep walking through the showers, skirting every puddle
Walk with your umbrella, alone in the uncertain rain
The second poem, by Er Yuan, is called 'The Oldest Sounds Should Ring Out Loud and Clear’. This short poem is about handing on the best of the past to our descendants. The speaker has inherited an old tea spoon and he loves its gentle sheen and special sound when struck. It came from his mother and reminds him of her, and especially of her voice. In turn, he has made a comb out of wood for his wife and daughter. He hopes they will value it as much as he values the little spoon.I’ve made a peach wood comb
for my wife and my daughter
The sound its handle makes
will ring out loud and clear
The third of our poems creates an interesting narrative and it stays in the imagination after reading like an atmospheric film. An old car struggles up a hill and the noise of its engine disturbs some birds. Their cries then disturb the speaker. The scene is immersed in nature. The speaker washes his face with spring water. Birds and squirrels inhabit the scene. Country folk carry their produce down the mountain with an ease and rhythm unavailable to the car driver. The speaker addresses the driver. The driver seems to look back into the speaker’s very soul. It is a special moment that seems to transcend the everyday details of existence. But the reader feels that the natural spring, the clean fresh water, the wild animals and the rhythms of the country people walking by have all enabled this moment of engagement.When the driver stops to drink from a spring
I ask him how far it is to Ganzi
He looked at me as if wondering about my soul
Poem four is Zang Haiying’s 'Memories of Indoor Rain’, an intriguing title for a very evocative piece. The speaker remembers her father carrying her through the house on a day of heavy rain. The rain was so dense it seemed to be a solid object, hiding the view. The sense of being secretly hidden away haunts the speaker and is associated with her solitary nature. Father was too busy keeping the house secure to notice her lonely childhood and adolescence. The memory persists although years have now passed by:The rain outside has stopped, but the rain inside keeps falling
Drips and drops, from years ago until tonight
My young father and my teenage self
marooned in a leaky room where time’s concealed
Our final poem is 'Door in the Rain’ by Xiao Xi. In this piece the sense of heavy rain is so intense that everything seems to have turned into water. Even the house is 'made of rain’ and the lamp that is switched on at the end is 'made of water’. The middle section is especially powerful:From a distance it looks as though he turns the key
not in the lock of a wooden door
but but directly into the downpour
Peter Hughes Umbria
May 2023
国际诗歌评论人 | 彼得·休斯
诗人、创意写作教师，现任英国剑桥康河出版社资深文学编辑、剑桥徐志摩诗歌艺术节编委。2013年，他的诗歌选集与《对特殊事物的直觉：彼得·休斯诗歌评论集》（'An intuition of the particular’: some essays on the poetry of Peter Hughes）同时由Shearsman出版社出版。他根据意大利经典创作了《十分坦率》（Quite Frankly，Reality Street出版社）、《卡瓦尔康蒂》（Cavalcanty，Carcanet出版社）、《via Leopardi 21》（Equipage出版社）等众多充满创意的作品，广受好评。彼得是剑桥大学英语系朱迪斯·威尔逊诗歌基金获得者、客座专家，剑桥大学莫德林学院在诗歌领域的客座院士。近期出版的作品包括：2019年的《柏林雾沫》（A Berlin Entrainment，Shearsman出版社）、2020年的《毕士大星座》（Bethesda Constellations，蛎鹬出版社）等。“汉诗英译”栏目自2018年10月启动至今，现已完成第一阶段的翻译工作，与美国同道出版社合作，从《诗刊》和中国诗歌网“每日好诗”中精选800余首诗歌译成英文，推动当代中文诗歌走向世界。
从2022年4月起，中国诗歌网与剑桥康河出版社合作开展汉诗英译工作。
翻译团队为剑桥康河诗社，它是英国剑桥康河出版社(Cam Rivers Publishing) 旗下的诗歌翻译与编辑团队，由英国国家学术院院士、剑桥大学社会人类学教授、剑桥徐志摩诗歌艺术节创始人艾伦·麦克法兰(Alan Macfarlane) 担任主席。团队由英国资深诗人与文学编辑彼得·休斯 (Peter Hughes)、露西·汉姆尔顿 (Lucy Hamilton)，以及其他多位毕业于剑桥大学和其他知名高校的译者与学者组成。
“汉诗英译”每期发布五首汉英对照诗歌，并附国际诗人的点评，同步在中英两国推出，欢迎各位诗友关注和批评！
