TED | 關於帕金森詩人的詩歌翻譯（一）

今天分享一首，自己之前翻過的TED TALK 上的一位帕金森患者、又是詩人的慈祥老奶奶的詩歌。TED視頻發佈於網易公開課【TED】遲暮之歌。

當時，老奶奶共念了4首詩，都與帕金森病有關，又充滿對人類存在本質的思考。翻了好幾個月才翻好這篇字幕。

現在重新看看，有些地方又稍作修改。（註：由於是字幕翻譯，有些中文部分為尊重英文斷句，稍作調整。）

第一首：

"No Signs of Struggle"

「毫無掙扎之兆」

Growing small requires enormity of will:

just sitting still in the doctors waiting room

watching the future shuffle in and out,

watching it stoop; stare at you

while you try not to look.

Rare is an exchange:

a smile of brief, wry recognition.

由大變小需要強大的意志：

靜靜地坐在醫生的候診室

看著未來在眼前穿梭往複

當未來附身，凝視著你

你卻試圖迴避它的目光

很少，你會對它報以

一絲自嘲的苦笑

You are the new kid on the block.

Everyone here was you once.

You are still learning that growing small

requires a largeness of spirit

you cant fit into yet:

acceptance of irritating help from those who love you;

giving way and over, but not up.

你就是這裡的新成員

這裡的每個人都曾經是你

而你漸漸明白

由大變小需要一顆強大的靈魂

你的身軀還裝不下它：

要學會不情願地接受愛你的人給你的幫助

放手，放下，但不放棄

Youve swallowed hard the contents of the "Drink Me" bottle,

and felt yourself shrink.

Now, familiar furniture looms,

floors tilt, and doorknobs yield only when wrestled round with both hands.

It demands colossal patience, all this growing small:

your diminished sleep at night,

your handwriting, your voice, your height.

你已艱難吞下了「喝了我」的藥劑

感到身體開始縮小

現在，熟悉的傢具開始變得模糊

地板開始傾斜，門把手也不聽使喚，唯有雙手費力才能打開

由大變小需要異常強大的耐心：

你的夜晚睡眠開始減少

你的字跡、聲音、身高都開始萎縮

You are more the incredible shrinking woman

than the Buddhist mystic, serene, making do with less.

Less is not always More.

Yet in this emptying space, space glimmers,

becoming visible.

Here is a place behind the eyes of those accustomed

by what some would call diminishment.

你越來越像一位不可思議的縮水老婆（註：一部美國老電影的名字）

而不是一位深居簡出、生活簡樸的佛教徒

少並不總是多

但在這逐漸虛無的空間里，發出了微光

人們能看得見

這是一片隱匿於常人視線之外的天地

別人眼中的「縮小」之人的天地

It is a place of merciless poetry,

a gift of presence previously ignored,

drowned in the daily clutter.

Here every gesture needs intention,

is alive with consciousness.

Nothing is automatic.

這裡是無情詩歌之所在

「存在」本身就是上天的恩賜

它曾被忽略，淹沒在日常紛繁中

在這裡，每個動作都有明確意圖

它們飽含著鮮活的意識

沒有行動能自動完成

You can spot it in the provocation of a button,

an arm poking at a sleeve,

a balancing act at a night-time curb while negotiating the dark.

Feats of such modest valor,

who would suspect them to be exercises in an intimate, fierce discipline,

a metaphysics of being relentlessly aware?

你處處可見它的蹤跡，當按動一顆按鈕

或將胳膊伸進袖子

或努力掌握平衡，度過漫漫長夜

這些看似微不足道的英勇行為

誰會想到是大強度的訓練結果？

是對自我無情知曉的形而上學的實踐？

Such understated power here,

in these tottering dancers who exert stupendous effort

on tasks most view as insignificant.

Such quiet beauty here, in these,

my soft-voiced, stiff-limbed people;

such resolve masked by each placid face.

There is immensity required in growing small,

so bent on such unbending grace.

這些樸素的力量背後

是付出巨大努力的蹣跚舞者

完成世人眼中不值一提的微小任務

它們散發著靜謐之美

那些聲音低柔、四肢僵硬的人們

那些冰冷麵具下的堅定的心

由大變小需要無限的力量

堅定地追求不屈的優雅

如想觀看TED視頻，請查看網易公開課【TED】遲暮之歌。

詩歌原文真的好難，不知是否理解準確。請多指正。

推薦閱讀：