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2010年4月14日 星期三

Neruda's Oda al tiempo venidero (Ode to Time to Come)



Having done Neruda's Oda al presente, Oda al pasado, there is no reason why the cycle should not be completed by his Oda al tiempo venidero or Ode to the time to come 未來之頌. So here it is, with my translations. Let's lsten to what he has to say.

 


Oda al tiempo venidero                   Ode to the time to Come            未來之頌


 


Tiempo, me llamas. Antes               Time, you call me. Before           時間,你呼喚我。以前                 


eras                                                  you were                                      曾是


espacio puro,                                    pure space,                                 純空間,


ancha pradera.                                  wide prairie.                               廣濶的草原 


Hoy                                                   Today                                         今天


hilo y g  ta                                         you are                                       你是


eres,                                                  thread and drop,                        線與滴 


luz delgada                                        slender light                              纖纖之光


que corre como liebre hacia las zarzas  that runs like a hare towards brambles.猶野兔般奔向夜   


de la cóncava noche.                         of the concave night.                 那凹下的灌叢。


 


Pero                                                   But                                            


ahora                                                 now                                           現在


me dices, tiempo, aquello                 time, you tell me that which      時間,你對我說


que ayer no me dijiste:                      you didn't tell me:                     昨天沒說的:


 


tus pasos apresura                              Step up your paces,                  加快步履


tu corazon reposa                               rest your heart                           放鬆心情


desarolla tu canto.                             develop your song.                    引吭高歌。 


 


El mismo soy. No soy? Quien, en el cauce  I'm the same. I'm not?  Who  我仍是我。不是?誰可


de las aguas que corren                    can idenfify a river                        從水流的河床


identifica el rio?                                from the bed of its running water? 認出河流


Solo sé que alli mismo                      I only know that from that place    我衹知從那一地方


en una sola puerta                             my heart knocks                             我心衹敲


mi corazón golpea,                            at that door alone ,                       一扇門 


desde ayer, desde lejos,                     since yesterday, since faraway,   自昨天,自恆久,


desde entonces,                                 since then,                                  自那時,


desde mi nacimiento.                         since my birth.                           自我出生。


 


Allí                                                     There                                          那兒


donde reponde                                   where the dark echo                    在那


el eco oscuro                                       answers                                       回響幽幽


del mar                                               the singing sea                            回應


que canta y canto                               and I sing                                    海歌的地方


y que                                                  and where                                    我亦歌唱


conozco                                               I only                                           我衹


sólo                                                     know                                            從其漫無目的之哨聲 


por un ciego silbido,                            by its blind whistling                    從海浪


por un rayo                                          by a beam                                   之閃光


en las olas ,                                         on the waves                                從夜 


por sus anchas espumas en la noche  by the wide foam of the night.      那豐盈之泡沫知道。


 


Asi, pues, tiempo, en vano                   Thus, then, time, in vain               故此,時間, 你徒然


me has medido,                                    have you measured me,               量度我,


en vano transcurriste                             in vain have you                           你徒然


adelantando                                          gone before the path                    跑在


caminos ak errante.                               of the wanderer.                            流浪者之路前。


 


Junto a una sola puerta                         Together with one door only,        我獨自與一扇門           


pasé toda la noche,                                I passed the whole night               渡過一整夜


solitario, cantando.                                  all alone, singing.                       歌唱着。


 


y ahora                                                   and now                                            而現在


que tu luz se adelagaza                         when your light dims                         當光線銳减


como animal que corre                           like an animal getting lost                像奔跑的動物


perdiendose en la sombra                       in the shadows                                  黑暗中消失時


me dices                                                  you are telling me,                           你才用我可聽之音


al oido,                                                    in an audible voice                           告訴我


lo que no me ensenaste                           what you never taught me                哪你從未教過我


y supe siempre.                                        and I knew all along.                        但我早已知的東西。


 


In this simple poem, Neruda is telling us that he had known all along, in advance of what time has kept hidden from him, something which time would not tell him until he is almost at the end of his life. What is that? He writes this poem probably close to the end of his life. He says that previously, time is like a big open prairie where everything is possible. But now time has shrunk into a tiny tiny thread and its size is reduced from a big, open and spacious  prairie to that of a teenie weenie drop of liquid. Like Einstein, he talks not only of time. He talks of time in terms of space.


The time Neruda is referring to in this poem is obviously not chronological time He is referring to his biological time, his personal time, his biographical time. He is complaining that all along, like a blind man whistling in the dark to give himself courage, he has been forced to fight his battle all alone without any one to teach him. He has to rely on his instinct. He compares himself to a running animal fast disappearing in complete darkness and soon to be completely engulfed in it. Previously, he had to gather what might be hidden in the wombs of time, from hints given by Nature during  the night. It is as he says: " a beam by the wide foam of the night" (anchas espumas de la noche). He is probably referring to love making.


He says that he knew what time would teach him at the end of his life: the secret which time tried to hide from him but which he learned, all alone, all by himself, close to the door of the night. What he learned he appeared to know: from birth:  that "door", that "bramble of the concave night". Here he uses a literary device that has been called transferred epithet: an adjective which normally is associated with one object is transferred to another object with which the first object has a certain relationship, for a special effect. We must remember that Neruda was writing in a Catholic country, where open or too explicit reference to love making may be regarded as bad form or in bad taste. But he extended it a bit. He said that he had learned the lesson from his birth. He thereby introduces a certain ambiguity. And like all poetic use of language, ambiguity is the standard piece of the furniture of poetic stage design. Ambiguity is a machine for the production of suggestions, of openness instead of rigidity, inflexibility, of innuendoes . It thereby provides room for the soaring of the human imagination. Indeed we may argue here that he cannot failed not to have known it. He said he had learned about it from his birth. Indeed, he came from there. It is the woman's womb. It is the door to that womb!  However, I have deliberately excised that in my Chinese translation because of the different texture and grammar of Chinese language which does not allow the same degree of permissiveness!


The lesson that time kept away from him is that lesson that he should never lose time, that he should step up his paces, rest his heart and sing his song. It is the song of that he learned all night long, all alone, close to the door of the night! In vain time had tried to contain him, to cut him down to size and to hurry him along but it was useless. He already knew its secret long before age tells him in a clear and loud voice that which time failed to teach him!     


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