再译著名诗人E Dickinson的Hope is the thing with feathers

   翻译前言

   这首诗出自美国著名诗人Emily Dickinson之手，我虽很早就拜读过，也翻译过其一段，但后来发现了全诗，深为这首诗感动，故把全诗再译于此。

   局限于翻译者的汉语文学水平，虽已尽力而为，却也不能让自己满意，尽管如此，鉴于这首诗歌美极，妙极，故也匆忙推出，以共享于友人。

          Hope is the thing with feathers

                        E Dickinson

                      翻译 潘学峰

"Hope" is the thing with feathers --希望是长着羽毛的东西
　　That perches in the soul --栖身在灵魂的深处
　　And sings the tune without the words --它哼着无词的小调

　　And never stops -- at all --永不停息

  And sweetest -- in the Gale -- is heard --狂风中它会越发甜美

　　And sore must be the storm --而忧伤的只是那风暴
　　That could abash the little Bird --它或许会让小鸟感到难为情　　That kept so many warm --它曾留住了多少温馨
　　I've heard it in the chillest land --我曾在极寒的地方聆听
　　And on the strangest Sea --也曾在陌生的海上遇到
　　Yet, never, in Extremity, 但不论环境有多么极端

　　It asked a crumb -- of Me. 却从未向我索要丝毫(却也很少把我关照)

Dickinson introduces her metaphor in the first two lines (“ ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers— / That perches in the soul”), then develops it throughout the poem by telling what the bird does (sing), how it

reacts to hardship (it is unabashed in the storm), where it can be found (everywhere, from “chillest land” to “strangest Sea”), and what it asks for itself (nothing, not even a single crumb).