原文: BEFORE THE STORM[TNY]

by Louise Glück August 4, 2008

Rain tomorrow, but tonight the sky is clear, the stars shine.

Still, the rain’s coming,

maybe enough to drown the seeds.

There’s a wind from the sea pushing the clouds;

before you see them, you feel the wind.

Better look at the fields now,

see how they look before they’re flooded.

A full moon. Yesterday a sheep escaped into the woods,

and not just any sheep—the ram, the whole future.

If we see him again, we’ll see his bones.

The grass shudders a little; maybe the wind passed through it.

And the new leaves of the olives shudder in the same way.

Mice in the fields. Where the fox hunts,

tomorrow there’ll be blood in the grass.

But the storm—the storm will wash it away.

In one window, there’s a boy sitting.

He’s been sent to bed—too early,

in his opinion. So he sits at the window—

Everything is settled now.

Where you are now is where you’ll sleep, where you’ll wake up in the morning.

The mountain stands like a beacon, to remind the night that the earth exists,

that it mustn’t be forgotten.

Above the sea, the clouds form as the wind rises,

dispersing them, giving them a sense of purpose.

Tomorrow the dawn won’t come.

The sky won’t go back to being the sky of day; it will go on as night,

except the stars will fade and vanish as the storm arrives,

lasting perhaps ten hours all together.

But the world as it was cannot return.

One by one, the lights of the village houses dim

and the mountain shines in the darkness with reflected light.

No sound. Only cats scuffling in doorways.

They smell the wind: time to make more cats.

Later, they prowl the streets, but the smell of the wind stalks them.

It’s the same in the fields, confused by the smell of blood,

though for now only the wind rises; stars turn the field silver.

This far from the sea and still we know these signs.

The night is an open book.

But the world beyond the night remains a mystery.

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译文: 暴风雨前夜【纽约客】

刘易斯-格鲁克

2008.08.04

明天将有降雨，但今晚夜空清朗，繁星闪耀
然而，降雨即将来临
或许雨水会淹没种子
海上来的风正推搡着云层
没看到云层，先感受到凉风
现在最好看一下田野吧
在它们被淹没之前记住它们的样子

月圆之夜
昨天，一只绵羊逃进了树林里
那不是一只普通的绵羊——是一只公绵羊，是整个未来啊
如果我们能再看到它，将是看到它的尸骨

草丛微微地漾动着，或许风儿正在吹过
橄榄树的新叶子也同样轻微地晃动着
狐狸追猎着田野里的老鼠
明天草丛上将出现斑斑血迹
但是暴风雨——暴风雨将会把血迹冲刷得一干二净

一个男孩正坐在窗户后面
他上床睡觉了——时间上过于早了
他自己这么想的，所以他坐到了窗户旁

现在一切事物都安定下来了
现在你正躺在床上准备睡觉
早上你将在这床上醒来
高山如灯塔般耸立
提醒着这无边的黑暗：地球的存在——

这不能被遗忘的事实。

海面上，风更猛了，云层堆积着
随即又随风飘散

明天黎明将不再来临
天空再也不是今天这样的天空
它将如夜空般黑暗
星星也将随着暴风雨的到来而暗淡、消逝
暴风雨可能持续10多个小时
但是世界再也不能复原

一盏接着一盏，乡村里的灯光变得暗淡
高山因为反射的光芒而在黑暗之中忽明忽暗

静悄悄的，只听见猫儿们在门廊上扭打
它们察觉到风的气息：该去找些伙伴了
随后，它们徘徊在街道上
但是，风的气息正向它们慢慢靠近
就好像在田野里，鲜血的味道使人困惑不安
不过现在只是那风吹得更猛了，星星在田野里洒下一片银光

虽然远离海洋，但是我们知道这些信号
这无边的黑暗就是一本翻开的书
但这黑暗之外的世界依然是一个谜