The Widow’s Lament in Spring Time
William Carlos Williams
Sorrow is my own yard
where the new grass
flames as it has flamed
often before but not
with the cold fire
that closes round me this year.
Thirtyfive years
I lived with my husband.
The plumtree is white today
with masses of flowers.
Masses of flowers
load the cherry branches
and color some bushes
yellow and some red
but the grief in my heart
is stronger than they
for though they were my joy
formerly, today I notice them
and turned away forgetting.
Today my son told me
that in the meadows,
at the edge of the heavy woods
in the distance, he saw
trees of white flowers.
I feel that I would like
to go there
and fall into those flowers
and sink into the marsh near them.
寡妇春怨
威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯
悲伤是我今年的庭院
新草苒苒
围绕着我 却像冰冷的火焰
不似往日。
我已和丈夫共度三十五年。
今日李树花开
沉甸甸遍树雪白。
遍树雪白的花朵
压低了鲜红的枝桠
染白了红色的 黄色的灌木
那花朵曾是我欢乐之源，
现下却不敌我心中悲凉
今日瞧见 我别过头去
唯愿遗忘。
今天听儿子说
在草地上，
在繁密的森林边陲
他远远望见，
一树树的白花盛开
我想我愿到那里去
坠入那片花海
沉没在它们近旁的沼泽。
初读这首诗，扑面而来的便是中国古典诗歌的气息，也是因此被吸引，迫切地想去翻译。
作者威廉•卡洛斯•威廉姆斯的职业是医生，这让身为医学生的我又多了一丝亲切感。由于职业，他每天面对形形色色的人，饱览生死百态，便愈发坚信真实的力量。因而，他的诗歌以“回到事物本身”为原则，脱离虚拟繁复，选择最为平实的意象来展现真实生活中的诗意。这首《寡妇春怨》正是受到东方美学的影响而作，以西方语言融合东方意象，描绘出女子深闺愁怨的画面，使我们不由得联想到一幅水墨春怨图景，从而更易受到感染。
（图源：百度）
