Letter to N.Y.
寄往纽约的信
For Louise Crane
by Elizabeth Bishop
In your next letter I wish you'dsay
where you are going and what youare doing;
how are the plays, and after theplays
what other pleasures you'repursuing:
我希望你在下一封信里说说
你想做的事情，你要去的地方；
那些戏剧怎么样，散场后
你还有什么别的娱乐？
taking cabs in the middle of thenight,
driving as if to save your soul
where the road goes round andround the park
and the meter glares like a moralowl,
在午夜搭乘出租车
它快得像要去拯救自己的灵魂，
公路一圈圈绕着公园
计费表像一只公正的猫头鹰瞪大着眼，
and the trees look so queer andgreen
standing alone in big black caves
and suddenly you're in adifferent place
where everything seems to happenin waves,
树木显得异常的古怪，发着绿
孤零零地站在黑而巨大的洞穴里
突然，你处在一个异常的地方
在那里，事情波浪一样接连而来，
and most of the jokes you justcan't catch,
like dirty words rubbed off aslate,
and the songs are loud butsomehow dim
and it gets so terribly late,
你听不懂多数的玩笑，
像禁忌词语从石板上抹除，
音乐很响，却多少有些悲伤
天色实在太晚了，
and coming out of the brownstonehouse
to the gray sidewalk, the wateredstreet,
one side of the buildings riseswith the sun
like a glistening field of wheat.
从棕色的石屋里走出来
直到灰色的小径，湿漉漉的街道，
路旁的房屋随着太阳升起
就像一片白花花的麦田。
—Wheat, not oats, dear. I'mafraid
if it's wheat it's none of yoursowing,
nevertheless I'd like to know
what you are doing and where youare going.
——亲爱的，是小麦而不是燕麦。恐怕
这些小麦不是你播撒的，
可无论如何，我希望知道
你想做的事情，你要去的地方。
(木也 译)
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