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2010年10月1日 星期五

Rilke's Fountain (里爾克的噴泉)

If the National Day brings anything concrete to me, it's a little bit more time of my own. I can go back to what I love most. Following my first glimpse of Rilke's German poetry, I am eager to see what he has got to offer of a suitable length for me to work on this morning in his French poems. He stayed in France for quite some time and I am surprised to find that he produced, not a few  but some 400 poems written in French! Here's one that I have chosen to translate: La Fontaine (The fountain 噴泉)


         La Faontaine                                 The Fountain                                               噴泉


Je ne veux qu'une seule leçon, c'est la tiene, I just want one lesson and it's yours,    我只想學一課,你的,


fontaine, qu en toi-même retombes--           fountain, falling back into yourself--      噴泉,那重投自身的-- 


celle des eaux risquées auxquelles incombe  that of risked waters on which depends  那從上天回歸地下生活所賴之


ce céleste retour vers la vie terriene.          this celestial return toward earthly life.  冒險之水。


 


Autant que ton multiple murmure               Nothing would serve as example           沒有比你的多樣細訴 


rien ne saurait me servir d'exemple:             as much as your multiple murmur:        更切合模範


toi, ô colonne légère du temple                    you, O light column of a temple           你,噢 廟宇輕盈之柱


qui se détruit par sa propre nature.               that destroys itself by nature.            隨自性而自毀。


 


Dans ta chute, combien se module               In your fall, how each jet of water         在你下墮中,每一水柱  


chaque jet d'eau qui termine sa danse.         models itself as it ends its dance.          多麼依樣終斷其舞。


Que je me sens l'élève, l'émule                  How I feel like a student, imitator           模仿它那無數細絲般差別時


de ton inommbrable nuance!                     of your innumerable nuance!.               我感覺多像學童!


 


Mais ce qui plus que ton chant vers toi me décide But what turns me towards you more than your song但使我靠向你的莫過于


c'est cet instant d'un silence en délire       is that instant of ecstatic silence when         那一頃刻歇斯底里的寂靜


lorsq'à la nuit, à travers ton élan linquide at night, with a breath, your own              在夜裡一息間你的回程消失


pase ton propre retour qu'un souffre retire. return passes through your liquid leaping. 在你自身川流不息的生命動力中。


 


Qu'il est doux parfois d'être de ton avis,  How sweet it is to think like you sometimes,不時認同你,長兄,噢我的肢體,                      


frere aîné, ô mon corps,                         older brother, O my body,                         是多麼窩心,


qu'il est doux d'être fort                         how sweet it is to be strong                       能以你之力堅硬    


de ta force,                                          with your power,                                     感覺你的葉,莖,外皮


de te sentir feuille, tige, écorce                to feel myself leaf, trunk, bark                    與你所能化身之一切


et tout ce que tu peux devenir encore,      and all else you still can become,                是多麼窩心,


toi, si près de l'esprit.                          you, so close to spirit.                               你,多貼近靈性。


 


Toi, si franc, si uni                              You, so frank, so whole                             你,多坦白,在這如樹的姿態中


dans ta joie manifeste                            in your obvious delight                             你的喜悅多麼一覽無遺,


d'être cet abre de gestes                         to be this tree of gestures                            多麼统一,


qui, un instant, ralentit                         which, one moment, slows down                 它,在–頃刻間,稍停 


les allures célestes                                the celestial allures,                                  天堂之魅力


pour y placer sa vie.                             and there deposits its life.                            以放下其生命。


In this poem, it is obvious what Rilke intends to portray. Like so many other poets, the fountain reminds him of the fountain of love. He notes numerous similarities of the action of the fountain with the numerous subtle changes in the act of love.  He provides the most concrete images of the dynamism of love at its various stages.  And yet what is portrayed is entirely absent. He does not even mention the true subject of the poem at all! Yet with a little imagination, it is easy to understand what he was really trying to depict! That is one of the reasons why poetry is so enjoyable. We can enjoy what is "not there" by reading what "there is", in front of our eyes!


It's such a great pity that in the translation, the reader cannot fully appreciate the skill with which Rilke chose his words. e.g. in describing the column of the temple of love, he uses the word "lègér". That word can be translated into "light" as opposed to heavy but in French it also carries the connotation of being skilful and nimble in movement which gives the way the column can move an added dynamic dimension in the particular context of the poem. This is completely lost in the translation. In addition, the reader will also miss the euphonious sound of the original text in French ! All the reader gets to gloat over are images but not the sound!


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