DOWNPOUR

傾盆大雨

作者：Billy Collins

譯者：Tinkie

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Last night we ended up on the couch

trying to remember

all of the friends who had died so far,

and this morning I wrote them down

in alphabetical order

on the flip side of a shopping list

you had left on the kitchen table.

昨晚，

我們蜷縮在沙發(fā)上

竭力記起

迄今為止

已逝的所有友人，

今早，

我按字母順序

在你放在桌子上的

購物清單背面

寫下他們的名字

So many of them had been swept away

as if by a hand from the sky,

it was good to recall them,

I was thinking

under the cold lights of a supermarket

as I guided a cart with a wobbly wheel

up and down the long strident aisles.

那么多人已經(jīng)離去

彷佛被空中的一只手，一下?lián)]走了，

想起他們是那么令人心安

我邊推著

輪子搖搖晃晃的手推車

在長長的、刺耳的過道里上上下下

邊在超市的寒燈下沉思著

I was on the lookout for blueberries,

English muffins, linguini, heavy cream,

light bulbs, apples, Canadian bacon,

and whatever else was on the list,

which I managed to keep grocery side up,

until I had passed through the electric doors,

where I stopped to realize,

as I turned the list over,

that I had forgotten Terry O’Shea

as well as the bananas and the bread.

我在尋找藍(lán)莓，

英式松餅，意大利面條，濃奶油，

燈泡，蘋果，加拿大培根，

不管名單上還有什么，

我設(shè)法暫時忘卻雜貨店，

直到我穿過電動門，

我才突然意識到——

我迅速把購物清單翻過來，發(fā)現(xiàn)

我忘了特里·奧謝

還有香蕉和面包。

It was pouring by then,

spilling, as they say in Ireland,

people splashing across the lot to their cars.

And that is when I set out,

walking slowly and precisely,

a soaking-wet man

bearing bags of groceries,

walking as if in a procession honoring the dead.

當(dāng)時正大雨傾盆

就像他們說的

在愛爾蘭的停車場

人們向他們的汽車潑水

當(dāng)我出發(fā)的時候

緩慢而謹(jǐn)慎地走著

一個渾身濕透的人

提著一個購物包，慢慢向前走著

好像在行進(jìn)中

向死者致敬

I felt I owed this to Terry,

who was such a strong painter,

for almost forgetting him

and to all the others who had formed

a circle around him on the screen in my head.

我覺得這是我虧欠特里的，

他是一個那么了不起的畫家

我卻幾乎忘了他

于是，

在我腦海的屏幕上

所有呈像的人

都繞著他轉(zhuǎn)了一圈

I was walking more slowly now

in the presence of the compassion

the dead were extending to a comrade,

plus I was in no hurry to return

to the kitchen, where I would have to tell you

all about Terry and the bananas and the bread.

我現(xiàn)在走得更慢了

在同情面前

死者向一位同志伸出援手，

加上我并不急著返回

廚房——

因為在那兒

我不得不告訴你

關(guān)于特里、香蕉和面包的一切。

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