[拙译] 莎士比亚想象自己死亡的十四行诗四首

先来一点科普，文学专业完全可以跳过科普，直接看后面的正文。
谈及莎士比亚的十四行诗的时候，我们总说它们是“组诗”（sonnet sequence），但这是什么意思呢？每一首诗当然是可以单独拿出来阅读、背诵、欣赏的。但同时，它们当时出版、呈现的时候，同一组诗会被看作一个整体。当我们说莎士比亚给一位男性写了124首十四行诗的时候，我们并不是说莎士比亚在这124首里面都明确指出了对方的性别，而是说这一组诗里的有些诗是献给男性的，有些是献给女性的，而这124首是献给男性，包括“我可否将你比作夏日”等著名诗篇，而这124首里面有一些诗略微形容了对方——“美丽年轻、出身高贵的男子”。
所以，将同一个组诗里的多首诗放在一起阅读，是有益的。
下面拙译的即是莎士比亚的第71-74首十四行诗，共计4首，这4首诗都是莎士比亚想象自己死亡的情形，都是献给那位“美丽的年轻男子”的。
第71首我原先译过，一并贴上来，第72-74首诗是新译的。

原诗：威廉·莎士比亚
拙译：我

71

别再为我哀悼，在我死去之时，
在你听见阴郁丧钟
警告这世界我已逃离它之后
远离这低劣的世界与居住其中的卑贱至极的蝼蚁；
别，倘若你读了这行诗，别记得
写出这行诗的手，因为我爱你如斯，
以至于我会远离你的甜美思绪，
倘若想到我令你悲伤。
噢，倘若——要我说——你读了这首诗，
当我——或许——已与尘土混同，
别再念我卑微的名字，
让你的爱与我的生命一同腐朽，
否则这狡诈的世界会聆听你的悲鸣，
对你加以嘲笑，以远去的我。

No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell;
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it; for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O, if (I say) you look upon this verse,
When I (perhaps) compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But let your love even with my life decay,
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.

72

噢，以免这世界要求你以诗纪念
我活着时的优点你爱着的东西，
我死之后，亲爱的爱人，切记将我遗忘。
在我身上你又能确凿说出什么优点；
除非你撒下善良的谎言，
在我身上空掷这些，
在已死的我墓碑上悬挂我不应得的赞言。
是严苛的真相所难容的赞美。
噢，以免你真挚的爱意因此被误以为虚伪，
当你为爱说出那些不真实的话语，
让我的名字和我的躯体一同埋葬吧
被遗忘的名字就不会使你也不会令我蒙羞。
因为连我也对我写下的东西感觉羞耻，
你也应当以此为羞：爱着不值得之物。

O, lest the world should task you to recite
What merit lived in me that you should love,
After my death, dear love, forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove;
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,
To do more for me than mine own desert,
And hang more praise upon deceasèd I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart.
O, lest your true love may seem false in this,
That you for love speak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is
And live no more to shame nor me nor you.
For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you, to love things nothing worth.

73

你在我身上所见的情形
正如一年中的黄叶，两三，零星，垂挂
在寒风吹打的枝头颤栗，
甜美鸟儿曾欢唱的地方如今只留下赤裸残垣。
在我身上你见到的是这样秋日的黄昏，
在西方落日已逝之后，
一点一滴黑色的夜蚕食了白天，
夜是死亡化身，把一切锁在休憩里。
在我身上你见到融融火光，
在青春的余烬上静燃，
死亡面前它也必然熄灭，
曾供给燃料的身躯即将吞噬火焰。
你知晓这一切，反而爱我爱得更多，
你爱得这样深，必不能长久。

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

74
但在我被死神带走时也请知足，
这逮捕不容金钱保释，
可我这行诗歌仍将诞下利息，
将陪伴你以作纪念之用。
你重读这首诗时，见到的便是，
对你神圣的那部分我。
埋葬我的大地最后所得只是尘土，
我的灵魂归你，我身上更好的部分，
于是你失去的只是生命的残渣，
蛆虫的食物，死去的我的躯体，
被歹徒刀剑征服的可悲之物，
过于低级不值得被你记住。
有价值的是躯体包裹之物，
是这首诗，将与你相伴长久。

But be contented when that fell arrest
Without all bail shall carry me away,
My life hath in this line some interest,
Which for memorial still with thee shall stay.
When thou reviewest this, thou dost review
The very part was consecrate to thee.
The earth can have but earth, which is his due;
My spirit is thine, the better part of me.
So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life,
The prey of worms, my body being dead,
The coward conquest of a wretch’s knife,
Too base of thee to be rememberèd.
The worth of that is that which it contains,
And that is this, and this with thee remains.