【英诗汉译】柠檬树下

唐凯

柠檬树下


玛莎·德拉奥（美）/   翻译  唐凯

不是雨，是细细的雾
从我的柠檬树上落下
一抹绿色阴影里的香脂。

母亲已入土为安，整整六年。
这滴露，轻如逝者的脚步。
她常常走到这里，翘首观望
那些果实，那些数以百计的小小球体
于坚韧的掩映中，盘算着
牛乳与布丁，蛋白糖霜
与荷兰汁。

但是她的计划未能如意。

它开始不断地掉落柠檬
随后折入泥土，再重新开始——
我，来这里   以一贴软膏抵御高温
饱含深情，让那些柔软的爆裂之物——
那柑橘的本质，夏日的精华
沁入我的面孔，沉淀。水与金
在遥远的季节尽头，在静谧的深处酿造。
树叶吞下光的身体，然后溢出
水的呼吸。

我的手握举成杯，有如母亲。

Under the Lemon Tree
BY MARSHA DE LA O

Not rain, but fine mist
falls from my lemon tree,
a balm of droplets in green shadow.

Six years now my mother gone to earth.
This dew, light as footsteps of the dead.
She often walked out here, craned her neck,
considered the fruit, hundreds of globes
in their leathery hides, figuring on
custard and pudding, meringue and
hollandaise.

But her plans didn't work out.

The tree goes on unceasingly—lemons fall
and fold into earth and begin again—
me, I come here as a salve against heat,
come to languish,to let the soft bursts—
essence of citrus, summer's distillate—
drift into my face and settle. Water and gold
brew in the quiet deeps at the far end
of the season. Leaves swallow the body
of light and the breath of water brims over.

My hands cup each other the way hers did.

***
Marsha de la O, "Under the Lemon Tree" from Antidote For Night. Copyright © 2015 by Marsha de la O.  Reprinted by permission of BOA Editions, Ltd. .

Source: Antidote for Night (BOA Editions Ltd., 2015)

Marsha De La O作者介绍

Marsha de la O was born and raised in Southern California. She earned her MFA from Vermont College and is the author of two collections of poetry: Black Hope (1997), winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize, and Antidote for Night (2015), winner of the Isabella Gardner Prize from BOA Editions. De la O is associated with the landscapes and cityscapes of Southern California, and her poetry is known for its nuanced observation and description of the region. A former bilingual schoolteacher in Los Angeles and the rural community of Santa Paula, de la O now lives in Ventura, California. With her husband, poet Phil Taggart, she publishes the poetry journal Askew.

唐凯

不太好翻译，尤其是come to languish 饱含深情，这句翻译可能不对，请老师帮忙看一下。

周道模

读学。问候！

潘大冬

在遥远的季节尽头，在静谧的深处酿造。
树叶吞下光的身体，然后溢出
水的呼吸。

我的手握举成杯，有如母亲。