紫杜鵑

忽然想起詩的譯作。詩是最精鍊、最濃縮的語言，最能突顯一種語言的特點。翻譯之中，以詩最難譯得好。好的譯詩不多，不論是漢詩英譯，或是英詩中譯，譯作不是有欠準確，便是索然無味。

偶得佳作，深值得品味一番。

The Rhodora 紫杜鵑
By Ralph Waldo Emerson 龍應台譯

In May, when sea winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
五月，海風刺透靜寂
林中忽遇紫杜鵑
葉空，花滿，遍綴濕地
荒原緩溪為之一亮

The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the redbird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
紫瓣繽紛飄落
黑水斑駁艷麗
緋鳥暫或歇涼
愛花瓣令羽色黯淡

Rhodora! If the sages ask thee why,
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being!
若問汝何以
絕色虛擲天地
請謂之：眼為視而生
則美為美而在

Rhodora! Why thou wert there,
Rhodora! O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.
與玫瑰競色
何必問緣起
吾來看汝，汝自開落
緣起同一