英诗汉译：幸福之功

武夷山

幸福之功

作者：美国著名女诗人梅.萨顿（May Sarton， 1912–1995)

译者：武夷山 ©

我思考过幸福，它如何由

空房子里每一天的静寂所织成

它不是突如其来，也不是被赐予

而是创造本身，如树木之成长。

没人看见过树如何长大，但在树皮内

年轮又扩大了一圈。

没人听见过树根在黑暗中往深里扎，

但是树木被这内在的功业所提升

树的羽状叶脉笑颜灿烂，树叶光闪闪。

所以说，幸福由和平时光织成

它独自在屋里深扎其根；

屋角的旧五斗柜，凉爽的打蜡地板，

白窗帘轻柔地不停飘动

自由的空气在屋里悄悄地流动；

书柜、桌子、雪白的墙——

这些都是我们亲爱的熟悉的家居之神，

在这里信仰之功课可以高质量完成，

生长中的树绿意盎然，如同音乐。

什么是幸福，不就是和平地生长嘛，

是时间之永恒感，当家具

在同一个位置呆了一辈子，

随着空气流动，古老梦想

将当下幸福之闪亮树叶也给搅动了吗？

没人听见过思想，或聆听过心智，

但是当人们安居于内心世界时

空气中就充满了祝福，而且确有祝福之效；

        窗户遥望远山，四壁蔼然可亲。

.

该诗选自梅. 萨顿的诗集Collected Poems: 1930–1993（诺顿出版社，1993年初版）。

原诗如下：

THE WORK OF HAPPINESS
by May Sarton

I thought of happiness, how it is woven
Out of the silence in the empty house each day
And how it is not sudden and it is not given
But is creation itself like the growth of a tree.
No one has seen it happen, but inside the bark
Another circle is growing in the expanding ring.
No one has heard the root go deeper in the dark,
But the tree is lifted by this inward work
And its plumes shine, and its leaves are glittering.

So happiness is woven out of the peace of hours
And strikes its roots deep in the house alone:
The old chest in the corner, cool waxed floors,
White curtains softly and continually blown
As the free air moves quietly about the room;
A shelf of books, a table, and the white-washed wall —
These are the dear familiar gods of home,
And here the work of faith can best be done,
The growing tree is green and musical.

For what is happiness but growth in peace,
The timeless sense of time when furniture
Has stood a life’s span in a single place,
And as the air moves, so the old dreams stir
The shining leaves of present happiness?
No one has heard thought or listened to a mind,
But where people have lived in inwardness
The air is charged with blessing and does bless;
      Windows look out on mountains and the walls are kind.