[译]约翰·德林沃特《月色下的苹果》

月色下的苹果

【英】约翰·德林沃特       陈子弘 译

房顶上的苹果排成一列，

天光映照月色，那些

苹果是深海绿苹果。一介

云妆盖上深秋之夜的月光。

壁板后的耗子抓了又抓，尔后

这人鼠之家的屋顶就再无咻咻；

云朵还在鼓胀，月亮再一次

在苹果上显出深海之光的沧桑。

在幽暗微光中，它们排成一列；

松垮的楼板上，它们收集如水明月

那涓涓银流，月色苹果梦幻的清冽，

而平静的是下面陡峭的楼梯。

下面的走廊除了寂静什么都没有。

又比果园里的大树枝枝还要静悠

和月亮幽会，深邃而无语，深幽

如洗月色那令人讶异的果衣。

注：约翰·德林沃特（John Drinkwater，1882-1937）英国著名诗人和剧作家。据译者看过的一些读者评论，德林沃特这首诗收入了英国中学的教材，很多英国人小时候就读过他这首写苹果和月色的诗，而且印象深刻，有点类似中国中小学生熟读“床前明月光”等等。这首诗10月17日被英国The Reader杂志网站主页封推。

读者封推

英文原诗：

Moonlit Apples

At the top of the house the apples are laid in rows,

And the skylight lets the moonlit in, and those

Apples are deep-sea apples of green. There goes

A cloud on the moon in the autumn night.

A mouse in the wainscot scratches, and scratches, and then

There is no sound at the top of the house of men

Or mice; and the cloud is blown, and the moon again

Dapples the apples with deep-sea light.

They are lying in rows there, under the gloomy beams;

On the sagging floor; they gather the silver streams

Out of the moon, those moonlit apples of dreams,

And quiet is the steep stair under.

In the corridors under there is nothing but sleep.

And stiller than ever on orchard boughs they keep

Tryst with the moon, and deep is the silence, deep

On moon-washed apples of wonder.

John Drinkwater