Mendicant by Zhou Mengdie ~ 周梦蝶 《托钵者》 with English Translations

作品原文

周梦蝶 《托钵者》

滴涓涓的流霞
于你钵中。无根的脚印啊！
十字开花在你匆匆的路上
在明日与昨日与今日之外
你把忧愁埋藏。

紫丁香与紫苜蓿念珠似的
到处牵挂着你；
日月是双灯，照亮你鞋底
以及肩背：袈裟般
夜的面容。

十四月。雪花飞
三千弱水的浪涛都入睡了。
向最下的下游──
最上的上游
问路。问路从几时有？

几时路与天齐？
问优昙华几时开？
隔著因缘，隔著重重的
流转与流转──你可能窥见
那一粒泡沫是你的名字？

长年辗转在恒河上
恒河的每一片风雨
每一滴鸥鹭都眷顾你──
回去是不可能了。枕着雪涛
你说：“我已走得太远！”

所有的渡口都有雾锁着
在十四月。在桃叶与桃叶之外
抚看空钵。想今夜天上
有否一颗陨星为你拭默堕泪？
像花雨，像伸自彼岸的圣者的手指……

作品译文

Mendicant
Zhou Mengdie

A trickle of Cloud Elixir
in your begging bowl. Tracks of your feet
that rooted nowhere! The cross blossoms
on the road you speed along.
Beyond tomorrow and yesterday and today
you’re burying sorrow.

Purple lilac, purple clover everywhere
like prayer beads, surrounding you with care.
Sun and moon: paired lamps
to light your soles, shoulders, back;
the robelike face of night.

The Fourteenth Month. Snowflakes fly.
The unnavigable waves of ancient legend
slumber. Ask upstream and over,
downstream and under
to show you the way.
Ask how long there’s been a way.

When will the way and the sky go together?
Ask when the Udumbara’s* going to bloom.
Can you glimpse, across the ties, the binds,
the drifting rings, which bubble of froth
is your name?
Ever tossing and turning on the Ganges.
Every patch of rain along the Ganges,
every drop from gulls, egrets,
shows care for you.
There’ll be no going back now.
Resting your head on a snow-white wave
you say: ‘‘I’ve come too far!’’

All the crossings
are closed, bemisted in the Fourteenth Month.
Beyond the girls, the peaches, the farewells,
you fondle an empty begging bowl.
You wonder if tonight
a falling star will drop for you
in silence, like a tear from heaven.
Like a rain of blossoms,
like the finger of a Holy One
reaching from the Other Shore…