《朝聖》：虔誠的雙眼勾兌溫和的光芒，渴望撕開一縷縫隙，進駐夜的永恆
Aberdaron, Gwynedd, North Wales
朝聖
致敬R.S. 托馬斯
許景城 作
Pilgrimages
In Homage to R.S. Thomas
By Jingcheng Xu
舉著高昂的頭顱，
十指雙扣，向巴德西島進發,
沉重的軀體與抖顫的靈魂
無處寄存與安放，
仍在匍匐前行。
Holding my head up high, and
clasping my hands, I was pilgriming to Bardsey Island,
with a heavy body and shivering soul
no place to deposit and rest,
but still crawling along.
青苔咀嚼板岩祭壇
陳舊的花窗，已滅的燭台，
堂檐的雨漏，在鐘擺搖晃中
垂死掙扎，大口吞噬
靜謐，發出
無聲的吶喊，
盛著聖水的洗禮台
不屑任何的迴響。
曼島鸌振翅盤旋
怒斥無人租住的十字架。
The slate altar munched by the mosses
the old stained glass windows, the snuffed-out candles,
and the roof gargoyles, all in the pendulum』s swinging,
exhaled their desperate last struggle, and deeply inhaled
silence, bursting into
the voiceless cries,
the font with holy water
distaining any echo.
The fluttering and soaring Manx shearwaters
raged against the untenanted cross.
背對風吹麥浪的原野，
口誦經文和詩篇，
祈禱緋紅的海
鬆開不斷勒緊的繩索，
賜予一張通行證。
Turning from the field of wheat in breeze,
I chanted out a lection and psalm,
praying for the crimson sea
to release the tightening string,
and to grant a pass.
虔誠的雙眼勾兌溫和的光芒，
渴望撕開一縷縫隙，
進駐夜的永恆。
唯一的艛艓沉重地喘息，
擺渡聖徒的心。
The pious eyes were blending the cosy light,
yearning for a crack,
to dwell in the eternal night.
The only boat with a heavy sigh,
shuttled and enlightened the pilgrim s heart.
註：2017年8月14日我與威爾士好友Stephen和華人好友Cindy一同前往威爾士西部Ll?n半島的盡頭小鎮Aberdaron。已故威爾士民族詩人R.S. Thomas曾在該地的St Hywyn教堂做過幾年的牧師。此次前往，算是朝聖，尋其足跡，探索凱爾特的自然文化生態。詩人曾寫過著名的詩篇「Pilgrimages」 ，從宗教視角描寫此地獨特的生態。我的同名詩作《朝聖》，致敬托馬斯，算是對其作品以及詩人的"隱身上帝"宗教觀的一種穿越時空的歷史性對話，以詩歌的語言和個人的身體和精神經驗回應他詩中所提的問題。詩中提到的巴德西島（Bardsey Island）是Ll?n半島終端3.1公里以外的一座孤島。該島名字在威爾士語中意為「洋流中的島嶼」，儘管在英語中其意為「詩人之島」。自從516年聖·蓋德番（St Cadfan）在此島建造寺廟開始，該島便成為一個重要的宗教場所，中世紀時更是成為朝聖之地。據傳，此島的靈性和神秘性在於它曾是亞瑟王的埋葬之所。然而不幸的是該寺廟於1537年在國王亨利八世統治時期被摧毀。儘管如此，如今島上的自然風光，燈塔以及宗教遺址仍受諸多聖徒的青睞。該島象徵著北威爾士朝聖之路的終點，因此該島還被冠以「兩萬聖人之島」的美稱。
作於威爾士班戈大學英語文學院
2017-09-21
Written at the School of English Literature, Bangor University
21-9-2017
St Hywyn 教堂
已故威爾士民族詩人R.S. Thomas曾在該地的St Hywyn教堂做過幾年的牧師
陳舊的花窗，已滅的燭台，
堂檐的雨漏，在鐘擺搖晃中
曼島鸌振翅盤旋
怒斥無人租住的十字架
背對風吹麥浪的原野，
口誦經文和詩篇，
祈禱緋紅的海
舉著高昂的頭顱，
十指雙扣，向巴德西島進發
攝影：Stephen Rowlands (威爾士班戈藝術愛好者、企業家)
文字：許景城(Peter Jingcheng Xu，班戈大學詩人、譯者、學者)
附 R.S. Thomas英文詩：
英文詩：
Pilgrimages
By R.S. Thomas
There is an island there is no going
to but in a small boat the way
the saints went, travelling the gallery
of the frightened faces of
the long-drowned, munching the gravel
of its beaches. So I have gone
up the salt lane to the building
with the stone altar and the candles
gone out, and kneeled and lifted
my eyes to the furious gargoyle
of the owl that is like a god
gone small and resentful. There
is no body in the stained window
of the sky now. Am I too late?
Were they too late also, those
first pilgrims? He is such a fast
God, always before us and
leaving as we arrive.
There are those here
not given to prayer, whose office
is the blank sea that they say daily.
What they listen to is not
hymns but the slow chemistry of the soil
that turns saints bones to dust,
dust to an irritant of the nostril.
There is no time on this island.
The swinging pendulum of the tide
has no clock: the events
are dateless. These people are not
late or soon: they are just
here with only the one question
to ask, which life answers
by being in them. It is I
who ask. Was the pilgrimage
I made to come to my own
self, to learn that in times
like these and for one like me
God will never be plain and
out there, but dark rather and
inexplicable, as though he were in here?
TAG:林苑 |