活着（译文）

On Living

  —— By Nazim Hikmet，translated by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

活着

  —— 作者：Nazim Hikmet（土耳其文），英译：Randy Blasing，Mutlu Konuk

I

一

Living is no laughing matter:

活着，绝非儿戏：

you must live with great seriousness

你必极严肃地活着

like a squirrel, for example —

就象一只松鼠——

I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,

我是说别无他求，

I mean living must be your whole occupation.

我是说活着，必是你的全职。

Living is no laughing matter:

活着，绝非儿戏：

you must take it seriously,

你必严阵以待，

so much so and to such a degree

那份执着

that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,

就象你的双手被绑在背后，

your back to the wall,

你的背抵在墙上，

or else in a laboratory

又或是在实验室里

in your white coat and safety glasses,

你穿着白大褂，戴着防护镜，

you can die for people —

你可以为人民而死——

even for people whose faces you've never seen,

即使你与他们从未谋面

even though you know living

即使你知道活着

is the most real, the most beautiful thing.

是最真最美的实在。

I mean, you must take living so seriously

我说呀，你必那么严肃地对待活着

that even at seventy, for example, you'll plant olive trees —

就象即使七十岁了，你仍会种下油橄榄，

and not for your children, either,

不为了你的孩子，

but because although you fear death you don't believe it,

而是因为你虽然怕死，但你不信它

because living, I mean, weighs heavier.

而是因为活着，更重。

II

二

Let's say we're seriously ill, need surgery —

假如我们得了重病，需要手术

which is to say we might not get up

也就是说，我们也许再无法从那白色的手术台上站起

from the white table.

Even though it's impossible not to feel sad

即使我们难免会难过它来的太快，

about going a little too soon,

we'll still laugh at the jokes being told,

我们仍将被笑话逗乐，

we'll look out the window to see if it's raining,

我们会眺望窗外看下雨没，

or still wait anxiously for the latest newscast . . .

又或焦急地等待最新的消息

Let's say we're at the front —

假如我们上了前线——

for something worth fighting for, say.

为某个值得的东西而战。

There, in the first offensive, on that very day,

第一天第一次冲锋，

we might fall on our face, dead.

我们也许倒地而亡。

We'll know this with a curious anger,

我们会为此而又惊又怒

but we'll still worry ourselves to death

但我们仍会至死担忧这战争的结果，这战争可能连年。

about the outcome of the war, which could last years.

Let's say we're in prison

假如我们在监狱里

and close to fifty,

已年近半百，

and we have eighteen more years, say,

再过十八年，

before the iron doors will open.

那扇铁门才会打开。

We'll still live with the outside,

我们仍将与外面一起活着

with its people and animals, struggle and wind —

与外面的人，动物，奋斗还有风——

I mean with the outside beyond the walls.

我是说那墙的外面。

I mean, however and wherever we are,

我是说，不管怎样，不管在哪，

we must live as if we will never die.

我们必活着，就象我们永远不会死。

III

三

This earth will grow cold,

这地球将慢慢冷却，

a star among stars

它只是那么多星球中的一个

and one of the smallest,

最小的一个

a gilded mote on blue velvet —

蓝天鹅绒上一粒闪烁的尘埃

I mean this, our great earth.

这就是我们伟大的地球。

This earth will grow cold one day,

这地球有一天会变冷，

not like a block of ice

不是象一块冰

or a dead cloud even

或者一朵死掉的云

but like an empty walnut it will roll along

而是象一颗空洞的核桃

in pitch-black space . . .

在漆黑的太空滚动

You must grieve for this right now

你现在必为此哀伤

— you have to feel this sorrow now —

—你一定感到难过

for the world must be loved this much

因为这个世界必是深爱过的

if you're going to say “I lived”. . .

如果你说：“我活过了”……