外语诗欣赏：济慈、狄更斯、叶慈

On the Grasshopper and the Cricket

John Keats

The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; That is the Grasshopper's -- he takes the lead In summer luxury -- he has never done With his delights; for when tired out with fun He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. The poetry of earth is ceasing never: On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever, And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.

The cricket sang

Emily Dickinson

The cricket sang, And set the sun, And workmen finished, one by one, Their seam the day upon. The low grass loaded with the dew, The twilight stood as strangers do With hat in hand, polite and new, To stay as if, or go. A vastness, as a neighbor, came,-- A wisdom without face or name, A peace, as hemispheres at home,-- And so the night became.

Locust Spring

by J.M. Yates

One by one The heave doors of my senses Swing open into the spring Things I spent the winter naming Struggle free of Their round syllables Sing down the full throats Of the fattening birds In the dark When the air relaxes The rages of singing and wings Small circles descend Toward the grass: Each encapsulates seventeen years.

细读了上面三首诗。比较起来，觉得Emily Dickinson的诗最有味，耐读。她的诗的特点是：用词简炼，想象奇特。如将黄昏说成是一位陌生人手里拿着帽子，黑夜又有如邻居来访。因为这两个特点，使得她的诗特别，而又韵味十足。 她的诗抓形很准，象一张好的素描。

她诗中用的几个字用的独到，如"Set" (the sun), "Seam" (the day upon)，(polite and) "new", etc.

整首诗诗味很足。而且用韵很好。每一个Stanza都有独特之处。想一想，蟋蟀将太阳唱落；黄昏静立着，如一个拿着帽子的陌生人，礼貌而又新奇；夜的深远浩瀚如一位来访的邻居(当然这得是一位有趣的邻居。如一种没有面孔没有名字的智慧，多么诗意的画面啊！

试译一下。

蟋蟀之歌

蟋蟀歌唱 唱落了太阳 工人收工了，一个接一双 白天就这样合上 浅草挂满露珠 黄昏如陌生人当窗 手里拿着帽子，礼貌而又安详 来或者去，都是一样 夜的深远浩瀚 有如邻居来访 它的智慧没有名字，也没有模样 家的一隅，写满宁静安康

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济慈的诗读了，很温馨清新的感觉。读到蝈蝈我就想起自己侍弄草地花园。觉得自己象个蝈蝈。这个春天我种了几棵郁金香，一株杜鹃花。杜鹃花是粉色的，后来又看见还有紫色的、白色品种的。但是，园子里已经没有空地了，也就算了。

我已经很会割草了。周末时割一下草，做一会儿园丁是很惬意的事。我会将草地割得很好看，边缘切割得很整齐。我还将花园的边缘弄出曲线来，砌上边。自己觉得很有成就。

侍弄花园就象写文章做饭一样，要花时间，慢慢来，才会整理得精致。

蛐蛐原来在冬天也叫啊？读这首诗我才知道。与家人围炉夜话还是小时候的事了，也不记得有听见蛐蛐的吟唱。

试着将诗译了一下：

大地的诗篇啊永不会死亡 当所有的鸟儿在烈日下噤声 清凉的树荫下，一个声音响起 从新畦草地的一边到另一边 那是蝈蝈的领唱 在夏日的繁华里，他的欢乐 永不停息。当他累了时 他就在草丛下愉快的小憩 大地的诗篇啊永不止息 在寂寞的冬夜，当霜露 织成一片寂静，在炉火旁 蛐蛐开始细声吟唱 她的歌音随着炉火升温 在睡意朦胧中，人们仿佛又 听见蝈蝈在绿色山坡上的领唱

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叶慈(Yates)的诗让我想起很久以前，也读过一首关于蝉的现代诗，记得有这么两句：

明明知道只有一个夏季可活
却拼命也要唱出埋藏在心底里的的歌

这两句诗不太精雅，但意思有了。“after 17 years of waiting and dormancy underground, one can imagine how much vitality and eagerness have been accumulated in these little creatures---their sense doors were once unbearably heavy (dormant), but now it's time for liberating their desires for embracing spring and life. What a painful waiting yet eventually a passionate burgeoning of a true life! Let's waltz into Spring! ”

又去查了查书，发现有很多咏蝉的诗词。抄几句供大家欣赏。

蝉声将月短，草色与秋长。

散影玉阶柳，含翠隐鸣蝉。微形藏叶里，乱响出风前。

水阔尽南天，孤舟去渺然。惊秋路傍客，日暮数声蝉。

抱叶寒蝉静，归来独鸟迟。

何限倚山木，吟诗叶秋黄，蝉声集古寺，鸟影渡寒塘。

再抄一首：

瀑布寺贞上人院

郑巢

林疏多暮蝉，师去宿山烟。
古灯熏壁画，秋琴润雨弦。
竹间窥远鹤，岩上取寒泉。
西岳沙房在，归期更几年。

我现在常读感情色彩不太强烈的诗。有一天读到一首，前面几句都觉平常，而且胸怀不开，唯有读到“故国白云远，闲居青草生”才觉得眼前一亮。