沃尔特•惠特曼 “我自己的歌” 章节六
Section 6
A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.
Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,
Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may
see and remark, and say Whose?
Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.
Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same.
And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers' laps,
And here you are the mothers' laps.
This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.
O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,
And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.
I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps.
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and chil- dren?
They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
And ceas'd the moment life appear'd.
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
章节六
一个孩子说“这草是什么？”两手满满捧着它递给我看；
我哪能回答孩子呢？我和他一样，并不知道。
我猜它定是我性格的旗帜，是充满希望的绿色物质织成的。
我猜它或者是上帝的手帕，
是有意抛下的一件带有香味的礼物和纪念品，
四角附有物主的名字，是为了让我们看见又注意到，并且说，“是谁的？”
我猜想这草本身就是个孩子，是植物界生下的婴儿。
我猜它或者是一种统一的像形文字，
其含义是，在宽广或狭窄的地带都能长出新叶，
在黑人中间和白人中一样能成长，
凯纳克人，特卜荷人，国会议员，柯甫人10，我给他们同样的东西，同样对待。
它现在又似乎是墓地里未曾修剪过的秀发。
我要温柔地对待你，弯弯的青草，
你也许是青年人胸中吐出的，
也许我如果认识他们的话会热爱他们，
也许你是从老人那里来的，或来自即将离开母怀的后代，
在这里你就是母亲们的怀抱。
这枝草乌黑又乌黑，不可能来自年老母亲们的白头，
它比老年人的无色胡须还要乌黑，
乌黑得不像来自口腔的浅红上颚。
啊，我终于看到了那么许多说着话的舌头，
并看到它们不是无故从口腔的上颚出现的。
我深愿能翻译出那些有关已死青年男女们隐晦的提示，
和那些有关老人、母亲，和即将离开母怀的后代们的提示。
你想这些青年和老人们后来怎么样了?
你想这些妇女和孩子们后来怎么样了?
他们还在某个地方活着并且生活得很好，
那最小的幼芽说明世上其实并无死亡，
即使有，也会导致生命，不会等着在最后把它扼死，
而且生命一出现，死亡就终止。
一切都向前向外发展，无所谓溃灭，
死亡不像人们所想象的那样，不是那么不幸。
10：凯纳克人即法裔加拿大人，特卡荷(一种褐色的真菌)人即弗吉尼亚人，柯甫人即黑人
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