穿过树林的路

吕丁倩

The way through the woods

穿过树林的路

They shut the road through the woods

Seventy years ago

Weather and rain have undone it again

And now you would never know

There was a once a road through the woods

Before they planted the trees.

It is underneath the coppice and heath,

And the thin anemones

Only the keeper sees

That, where the ring- dove broods,

And the badgers roll at ease,

There was once a road through the woods.

穿过树林的路

在七十年前封闭，

消逝在变幻的风雨里。

你永远不会知道，

在种植这片树林之前，

曾经有一条穿过树林的路。

如今覆盖着灌木丛，石南草，

还有稀疏的银莲花。

只有守林人见过，

那片野鸽筑巢，

野獾悠然闲散的荒地里，

曾经有一条穿过树林的路。

Yet, if you enter the woods

Of a summer evening late,

When the night-air cools on the trout-

ringed pools

Where the otter whistles his mate.

(They fear not men eating the woods,

Because they see so few)

You will hear the beat of a horse feet,

And the swish of a skirt in the dew,

Steadily cantering through

The misty solitudes,

As though they perfectly knew

The old lost road through the woods…

But there is no road through the woods.

倘若在夏日入夜时，

走进这片树林，

鳟鱼池边，气爽清凉，

水獭在呼唤伴侣，

（它们不惧怕人们涉足树林，

来到这里的人寥寥无几）

你会听见马蹄声，

“沙沙”的裙裾沾满露水，

缓步徐行，蹚过

朦胧的孤寂。

他们似乎熟识

那条久已消失的路，

然而，这里并没有穿过树林的路。

（完）

Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) is a recipient of Nobel Prize in literature. He is one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom and regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story and a fantastic author. His children's books are classics of children's literature, his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift". The poem implies three themes – the metaphysical presences in earthly life, the power of nature over man, and how history can never be obliterated.

鲁德雅徳 吉卜林 是英国诗人，作家，诺贝尔奖获得者。吉伯林是英国最受欢迎作家之一，也是短篇小说写作艺术主要创新者。此外，吉卜林的儿童作品成为儿童文学经典。作品多样灵活，以叙述故事清晰为主要特点。

这首诗表达三个主题：隐喻的事物存在于地面生活中，大自然的力量超过人类的力量，往事永远不会被遗忘。

以下图片是诗中出现的部分景物。

长满石楠草丛的荒地

译文/吕丁倩

于Briarcliff Manor

版权自持，转发请署明译者。