53 | 寄往纽约的信 - Letter to NY

Hi everyone, welcome to the Leisure Park.

Today I want to share with you a poem ‘letter to N.Y.’, written by Elizabeth Bishop.

Letter to N.Y.

For Louise Crane

In your next letter I wish you'd say

我希望你在下一封信里说说

where you are going and what you are doing;

你想去的地方你要做的事情

how are the plays, and after the plays

那些戏怎么样，散场以后

what other pleasures you're pursuing:

你还有哪些别的娱乐？

taking cabs in the middle of the night,

在午夜时分搭乘出租车

driving as if to save your soul

匆忙的像是要拯救自己的灵魂

where the road goes round and round the park

那里道路不断围绕公园

and the meter glares like a moral owl,

计费器瞪着眼睛如垂死的猫头鹰

and the trees look so queer and green

树木显得异常的古怪和绿

standing alone in big black caves

孤单地站在又大又黑的洞穴前

and suddenly you're in a different place

突然，你置身于另一个地方

where everything seems to happen in waves,

那里事件像波浪一样接连发生

and most of the jokes you just can't catch,

大多数玩笑你弄不明白

like dirty words rubbed off a slate,

像石板上擦掉的几句脏话

and the songs are loud but somehow dim

歌声嘹亮可多少有点朦胧

and it gets so terribly late,

天色已经黑得不能再黑了

and coming out of the brownstone house

从棕色的石头屋子里出来

to the gray sidewalk, the watered street,

你到了灰白洒了水的人行道上

one side of the buildings rises with the sun

建筑物的一侧太阳会升起

like a glistening field of wheat.

像一片摇摆不停的小麦田

—Wheat, not oats, dear. I'm afraid

亲爱的，是小麦不是燕麦。我猜

if it's wheat it's none of your sowing,

这些小麦的种子不是你撒播的

nevertheless I'd like to know

无论如何我都渴望了解

what you are doing and where you are going.

你想做的事情你要去的地方

今天的节目就到这里啦。欢迎订阅Leisure Park闲时公园。下期节目我们将一起欣赏电影《小妇人》的中经典语录。See you next time.