Emily Dickinson(1)

I'M NOBODY! WHO ARE YOU?
EMILY DICKINSON(1830-1886)

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us－don't tell!
They'd banish us ,you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell you name the livelong June
To an admiring bog!

我是无名之辈! 你是谁?
你也是无名之辈吗?
那么我们为一对!
别说! 他们会传开去-- 你知道!
多无聊-- 是-- 某某名人!
多招摇-- 象个青蛙--
告诉你的名字 -- 漫长的六月--
给一片赞赏的沼泽!

简评：
这首小诗口语化、俏皮，而又寓意深远。

第一句话就透露出说话者不忮不求的傲岸：「我是无名小卒！」接着是发现同志的欣喜(从 you 变成 us )，以及到流俗划分界线(they/us)。

这种壁垒分明的态度也见于诗节的安排。首节讲无名小卒，节奏轻快，句法多变化；次节讲大人物，节奏滞缓，且只有一种句型(How + adj)。六、七、八行是接续诗行(run-on lines)，正所以代表大人物滔滔不绝。喻大人物的frog和喻其听众的bog押韵，显示两者意气相投。以六月为永远(livelong June)，矛盾修饰法(oxymoron)点出「沼」蛙之见肤浅可笑(按，另本做livelong day，讽刺之意更明显)。而俗人犹自欣羡，亦复可悯！

"Hope"

"HOPE" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul，
And sings the tune without the words，
And never stops at all，

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest Sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of Me.

" 希望" 是物长着羽毛
寄居在灵魂里，
唱着没有词的曲调，
绝无丝毫停息，

微风吹送最为甘甜
暴雨致痛无疑
能够使得小鸟不安
保有此多暖意。

听它越过奇妙大海
飞遍严寒田地
可它不要我面包屑
哪怕饥饿至极。

If You Were Coming In The Fall

IF you were coming in the fall,
I ’d brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spurn,
As housewives do a fly.

If I could see you in a year,
I ’d wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.

If only centuries delayed,
I ’d count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen’s land.

If certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be,
I ’d toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.

But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time’s uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.

如果你能在秋季来到，
我会用掸子把夏季掸掉，
一半轻蔑，一半含笑，
象管家妇把苍蝇赶跑。

如果一年后能够见你，
我将把月份缠绕成团——
分别存放在不同的抽屉，
免得，混淆了日期——

如果只耽搁几个世纪，
我会用我的手算计——
把手指逐一屈起，直到
全部倒伏在亡人国里。

如果确知，聚会在生命——
你的和我的生命，结束时——
我愿意把生命抛弃——
如同抛弃一片果皮——

但是现在难以确知
相隔还有多长时日——
这状况刺痛我有如妖蜂——
秘而不宣，是那毒刺。

I never saw a moor

I never saw a Moor--
I never saw the Sea--
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.

I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven--
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given--

我从未看过荒原--
我从未看过海洋--
可我知道石楠的容貌
和狂涛巨浪。

我从未与上帝交谈
也不曾拜访过天堂--
可我好像已通过检查
一定会到那个地方 。