Dreamof an Old Town – Bian Zhilin

《古镇的梦》–卞之琳

小镇上有两种声音

一样的寂寥:

白天是算命锣,

夜里是梆子。

 

敲不破别人的梦,

做着梦似的

瞎子在街上走,

一步又一步。

他知道哪一块石头低,

哪一块石头高,

哪一家姑娘有多大年纪。

 

敲沉了别人的梦,

做着梦似的

更夫在街上走,

一步又一步。

他知道哪一块石头低,

哪一块石头高,

哪一家门户关得最严密。

 

“三更了,你听哪,

毛儿的爸爸,

这小子吵得人睡不成觉,

老在梦里哭,

明天替他算算命吧?”

 

是深夜,

又是清冷的下午:

敲梆的过桥,

敲锣的又过桥,

不断的是桥下流水的声音。

 

Dreamof an Old Town

Bian Zhilin

 

Two sounds in the old town

—equally melancholic

are the daily fortune-teller’s gong,

and the nightly watchman’s clappers.

 

Not apt to disturb other’s dreams,

as if in a dream himself,

the blind fortune-teller walks thestreets

step by step,

knowing so well which flagstones arelow,

which high;

how old the daughters of a certainfamily might be…

 

Then making others go deeper into theirdreams,

he himself as if in a dream,

the watchman goes his rounds

step by step,

knowing well which flagstones are low,

which high;

which doors are tightly shut.

 

“Listen, it’s the third watch already,”

A good wife says,

“Mao Er’s dad!

The boy cries ever in his dreams,

stopping us from sleeping;

we must have his fortune told tomorrow.”

 

Comes midnight for one,

a cold afternoon for the other.

He with clappers crosses the bridge,

he with gong crosses also,

while beneath the water flows on, evermurmuring.

 

(RewiAlley 译)

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