The CityJohn Cavafy 译

城市黄灿然 译


You said: “I will go hence to another land,
你说:“我要去另一个国家,另一片海岸,
I will betake me to another sea.
寻找另一个比这里好的城市。
A better place than this may well be found.
无论我做什么,结果总是事与愿违。
All my endeavours are foredoomed to fail,
而我的心灵被埋没,好像一件死去的东西。
and as though dead my heart is sepulchred.
我枯竭的思想还能在这个地方维持多久?
How long shall this corrosion sap my brain?
无论我往哪里转,无论我往哪里瞧,
On every side — whichever way I look —
我看到的都是我生命的黑色废墟,在这里,
dark ruins of my life confront me here
我虛度了很多年时光,很多年完全被我毁掉了。”
where I have spent and wrecked so many years.”


你不会找到一个新的国家,不会找到另一片海岸。
You shall not find new places; other seas
这个城市会永远跟着你。你会走在同样的街道上,
you shall not find. The place shall follow you.
衰老在同样熟悉的地方,白发苍苍在同样这些屋子里。
And you shall walk the same familiar streets,
你会永远发现自己还是在这个城市里。不要对别处的事物
and you shall age in the same neighbourhood,
抱什么希望:那里没有你的船,那里没有你的路。
and whiten in these same houses. Ever this place
就像你已经在这里,在这个小小角落浪费了你的生命,
shall you arrive at. There is neither ship,
你也已经在世界上任何一个地方毁掉了它。
nor road, for you, to bring you otherwhere.
As here, in this small nook, you wrecked your life,
even so you spoilt it over all the earth.


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