Rain
by Don Paterson
May 26, 2008
I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face;
one long thundering downpour
right through the empty script and score
before the act, before the blame,
before the lens pulls through the frame
to where the woman sits alone
beside a silent telephone
or the dress lies ruined on the grass
or the girl walks off the overpass,
and all things flow out from that source
along their fatal watercourse.
However bad or overlong
such a film can do no wrong,
so when his native twang shows through
or when the boom dips into view
or when her speech starts to betray
its adaptation from the play,
I think to when we opened cold
on a rain-dark gutter, running gold
with the neon of a drugstore sign,
and I’d read into its blazing line:
forget the ink, the milk, the blood—
all was washed clean with the flood
we rose up from the falling waters
the fallen rain’s own sons and daughters
and none of this, none of this matters.
We are working at The New Yorker Translation Plan.
Are u interested? Join us!
译文:
雨水【纽约客】
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2008/05/26/080526po_poem_paterson
雨水
当-帕特森（2008.5.26）
我总爱看那些以下雨为开幕的电影
雨水啊，它编织着眼前的玻璃窗景
它暗淡于在外徘徊的女装
它流淌在她那瞻仰的脸庞
一次长长的异乎寻常的大雨倾盆
落过那空白的乐谱与剧本
戏还没有正式开幕，还没有遭遇反对意见
因为镜头还没有正式带动画面
画面中的女人寂寞如花
她身旁躺着无语的电话
画面中草坪上的女装被弃如敝履
画面中那走过天桥的少女
一切的一切被雨水冲刷得无处可逃
沿着那命中注定的河道
无论这有多么的糟糕漫长
该部电影并未至于恶名昭彰
因此当男主角用带着本地人的鼻音开始倾诉
或者当隆隆的雷声震动着观众的耳鼓
或者当女主角的言语正在宣泄
对该幕剧本的改写
我想当我们揭开那寒冷如冰
的阴暗排水沟，它或许显得溢彩流金
映照着杂货店招牌闪耀的霓虹
而我正陷入剧本那炽热的台词之中
别去想那墨水，那牛奶，那鲜血
一切都被洪水冲刷的干净清洁
我们挺了起来，迎着倾盆大雨
迎着这雨水的倾盆如注
这和此时此事毫无瓜葛
我们正在进行纽约客中文翻译计划，如果你也感兴趣的话，就赶快加入我们吧！——New Yorker翻译小组