译诗: Relax

Enjoy the present, don't worry about your future. You never know what's gonna happen. Eat strawberries while you can.

放松
艾伦巴斯

坏事将要发生。
你的西红柿将发霉
你的猫会被车碾压。
有人会在你车上落下袋子
里面装着溶化的冰淇淋，并且
把你的兰色羊毛衣扔进烘干机。
你的丈夫将跟一个女孩上床
她的岁数与你女儿差不多，她的
双乳爆衣。或者你的妻子
想起自己是个女同性恋
然后抛弃你与隔壁女人好上了。另一只猫 ---
你从未喜欢过的那只 --- 感染了一种病
你每一天每隔四个小时要撬开
它发烧的嘴。你的父母将死去。
不管你服用多少维他命，
做多少普拉提式锻炼，你仍将丢失钥匙，
掉落头发，丧失记忆。即使你女儿
没有把她的心插进
她遇见的每一个活插座里，
你回到家也会发现你儿子掏空了
冰箱，把它拖到路边，
叫了二手电器店来取走 -- 换来毒资。
有一个佛教故事，一位女人被老虎追赶，
她跑到一座悬崖前，看到一条结实的粗藤，
顺藤而下到半空。可悬崖下也有一只老虎。
而且两只老鼠 --- 一白一黑，迅速蹿出来
开始咬那藤蔓。这时候
她注意到裂缝中长出一株野草莓。
她看了看上面，下面，看了看老鼠。
然后她吃了那草莓
所以这就是那情景，那微风，那种心
快要蹦出来的感觉。你的钱包要被偷，
你会变胖，在外国宾馆的浴室滑倒
并且臀部摔裂了。你将孤独。
噢尝一尝这红色的果汁，
多么的酸甜，这些小小的果子
咬起来可脆了
(Phil试译)
Relax
By Ellen Bass

Bad things are going to happen
Your tomatoes will grow a fungus
and your cat will get run over.
Someone will leave the bag with the ice cream
melting in the car and throw
your blue cashmere sweater in the drier.
Your husband will sleep
with a girl your daughter’s age, her breasts spilling
out of her blouse. Or your wife
will remember she’s a lesbian
and leave you for the woman next door. The other cat –
the one you never really liked — will contract a disease
that requires you to pry open its feverish mouth
every four hours for a month.
Your parents will die.
No matter how many vitamins you take,
how much Pilates, you’ll lose your keys,
your hair and your memory. If your daughter
doesn’t plug her heart
into every live socket she passes,
you’ll come home to find your son has emptied
your refrigerator, dragged it to the curb,
and called the used appliance store for a pick up — drug money.
There’s a Buddhist story of a woman chased by a tiger.
When she comes to a cliff, she sees a sturdy vine
and climbs half way down. But there’s also a tiger below.
And two mice — one white, one black — scurry out
and begin to gnaw at the vine. At this point
she notices a wild strawberry growing from a crevice.
She looks up, down, at the mice.
Then she eats the strawberry.
So here’s the view, the breeze, the pulse
in your throat. Your wallet will be stolen, you’ll get fat,
slip on the bathroom tiles of a foreign hotel
and crack your hip. You’ll be lonely.
Oh taste how sweet and tart
the red juice is, how the tiny seeds
crunch between your teeth.