渡渡鸟的垂眠

【美】帕蒂·史密斯        陈子弘 译

睡着的渡渡鸟梦到它自己
茫然若失在事无巨细中。它老婆
在顶级大佬的私家动物园展出。
它的孩子为娱乐生为娱乐死
除了古风舞曲调的风回荡
并不需要谁点头同意。

好笑的尖叫声：科拉库、科拉库
被薄雾卷进了人造的洞窟
卷进甘蔗园。古怪的鸟喙
忙活着，沼泽地的梦幻池塘。
怪异的尸体被冲上峻峭的
岸边。滑稽好笑的骨头从此全无。

太阳高悬然后混进云层。
上帝充血的两眼如此伤悲和意外。
渡渡鸟醒来，看见了它们
再次缓缓合上它自己的眼睛。
脱出现世，得进已然忘却它
自己台词的那个模糊记忆。

译注：
1、渡渡鸟（dodo）是已灭绝的渡渡鸟属的唯一物种，根据微软电子百科全书和钱伯斯语源词典的纪录，“dodo”一词来自葡萄牙语的“doudo”或“doido”，为愚笨之意，当初可能来自渡渡鸟蠢肥的体型和不惧人类的习性。
2、有趣的叫声coracoo，英语词典中无此单词，大概是模拟渡渡鸟的叫声。

SLEEP OF THE DODO

The dodo sleeping dreaming of himself
lost in his daily doings. His wife mounted
in a menagerie of mogul extremes.
His children born and slain for sport
with nary a nod save the wind
echoing an old dance tune.

Funny squawks: coracoo, coracoo
swept by mist into the grotto
the sugar plantation. Funny beaks
bobbing the swamp’s dreaming pond.
Comic bodies washed up on the craggy
shore. Funny bones then no more.

The sun hung then bled into the clouds.
God’s blood shot eyes such sad surprise.
The dodo awoke and seeing them
slowly closed his own again.
Out of this world into the indistinct
memory of a line that had forgotten itself.

Patti Smiith