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2010年5月20日 星期四

Neruda's Oda a la Sandia (Ode to the Watermelon 聶魯達 西瓜頌). 2


 


Here are my translations of the second part of Neruda's Oda a la Sandia:

 

El universo seco                                           The dry universe                       那乾涸的宇宙

de pronto                                                      suddenly                                   雯時

tachonado                                                     studded                                     嵌上

por este firmamento de frescura                    by this firmament of freshness   那滿天清凉

deja caer                                                        leaves                                        祇留下

la fruta                                                          the overflowing                          那滿盈的

rebonsante:                                                   fruit to fall:                                 水果:

se abren sus hemispherios                             its hemispheres open                   她打開其半球

mostrando una bandera                                revealing a flag                           展示 

verde, blanca, escarlata                                 green, white, scarlet                    綠色,白色,媽紅色的旗熾 

que se disvuelve                                            which dissolves                          她們化作

en cascada, en azúcar,                                   into a cascade, into sugar            層疊小瀑布,糖和

¡ en delicia!                                                   into deliciousness!                       美味!

 

¡Cofre de agua, plácida                                Chest of water, calm                    水庫,祥和的

reina                                                            queen                                           水果店                  

de la fruteria,                                               of the fruit store                           女后 

bodega                                                        cellar                                            深奥的

de la profundad, luna                                  of depth, earthly                           坊鋪,地球的

terrestre!                                                      moon!                                          月亮!

en tu abundania                                           in your abundance                       在妳那豐沃中

se deshacen rubíes                                       the rubies are undone                    紅寶被切

y uno                                                           and one                                        而人們

quisiera                                                        would like to                                渴望

morderte                                                      bite you                                        啃你

hundiendo                                                   sinkling                                         把臉龐

en ti                                                             into you                                         毛髮

la cara,                                                         one's face,                                      靈魂

el pelo,                                                        one's hair,                                      都埋藏

el alma !                                                       one's soul!!                                    妳內!

Te divisamos                                               We split you                                   我們在口渴中

en la sed                                                      in our thirst                                     將妳

como                                                           like                                                 猶若

mina o mantaña                                           a mine or a mountain                      美妙食品之

de esplêndido alimento,                               of splendid food,                             鑛藏或山般瓜分

pero te conviertes entre la dentadura y deseo but between teeth and desire you turn 但在牙齒與慾望中

en sólo                                                          only into                                        妳把自已化作

fresca luz                                                      fresh light                                       一度清涼之光

que se deslie                                                 which unties                                    以其歌唱

en manantial                                                 into a spring                               鏡我們

que nos tocó                                                 which hit us ,                               溜進

cantando.                                                      singingi.                                         清泉

Y así                                                             And so                                            而

no pesas                                                       you do not weigh us down              你不使我們墮進

en la siesta                                                    in the scorching                               那烤焦的

abrasadora,                                                  siesta,                                                午睡,

no pesas,                                                      you don't,                                         妳不會,

sólo                                                              you only                                           妳衹是

pasas                                                             pass on                                             走過 

y tu grand corazón de brasa fría                   and you huge heart of cold ember     而妳那冷卻餘燼般的寬大之心  

se convertió en el agua                                 changed into the water                       早已化作滴滴的

de una gota.                                                 of a droplet.                                        水。

 

It is really amazing how such a common fruit that we see everyday amongst the trolleys of pedlars, the counters of supermarkets or the display trays of fruit shops in summer can be magically transformed into rubies, flags, even fruit shops and cellars, mines, mountains, hemispheres, planets and a green whale by the poetic imagination of Neruda. I really like the way he says how the watermelon wouldn't weigh on those who have partaken of her goodness in the searing heat of South American siestas. According to Neruda, the watermelon simply passes on and converted itself into pure thirst quenching "water"! And the watermelon is compared to a "huge heart of cold ember". "Huge" of course describes not only the water melon physically. It describes even more importantly, her generosity, her magnanimity and her selflessness.  The word "grand" in Spanish also carries the sense of great but one cannot possibly translate all the senses and innuendos which the original word carries. I also like the way he plays around with the verb "pesas" and "pasas". which sound so much alike in Spanish, but "pesas" means "weighs" or "weighs down on" but "pasas" is the third person singular present tense of the verb "pasar" which means to pass along, go away, go on etc . The word "plácida" which Neruda uses to describe the watermelon as the queen of the fruit store, can also mean in Spanish "placid, calm, peacerful, quiet". That is why if one does not know the original language a great many of  the rich associations of the original words will be irretrievably lost in translations, no matter how good. I like the way he starts off describing the physical conditions creating the urgent need for something to quench the thirst of the South Amerrican summer and how it leads to the final climax of tranformation of the watermelon into the material most direly required to satisfy such need: water. It has been a long build up but when it comes, it is so natural, so ineluctable, so convincing! 

5 則留言:

  1. Thanks for the food and the translation.
    Awaiting for poems...

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  2. Thanks for visiting. I shall strive not to disappoint. Good stuffs from great poets shouldn't be left to gather dust or mould in some obscure corner.

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  3. 其實我對智利詩人聶魯達認識不深,只是透過電影<郵差>、舞台劇<事先張揚的求愛事件>得到了片面的、細碎的印象...個人比較欣賞他的一首詩<亡者>。近年有人以其情詩作為靈感繪畫....書商也推了一些聶魯達詩畫傳之類的東東。
    Hope for your next translation ~ 

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  4. Me too. I do not know much about him but I love Spanish culture. I find that although in many ways, they are quite traditional, some of their best artists are really extremely innovative and are not afraid of breaking with tradition, like Lorca, Dali, Miro, Picasso. Neruda is Chilean. He has inherited that Spanish addicition to romantic love and is not afraid of talking about it in public in his poetry. I like Neruda because he is really a people's poet: he is so direct. He poured his heart out in his poetry. He caught my attention when I found a tiny booklet entirely on love when I visited America last year. I read a few whilst browsing at the bookstore there and decided instantly that I'd really like to explore him further. I have already translated the poems in that mini-work of 20 love poem but only into English. I'm thinking of translating them into Chinese but I was told two days ago that someone else has already done do. I haven't seen them yet and so am unable to tell if they are good. In any event, on my next US trip there, I bought a huge volume of his poetry which I am now in the process of reading and digesting. I thought that one of the best ways of reading him actively is actually to  translate his poetry from its original language into English and Chinese for my own as well as for the benefit of those who do not know the language. That's what I am doing. I have already applied the same kind of method in my reading of Lorca. I translated the latter's entire collection. I love both poets and would like to publish their works so that the Chinese world may know more about them. They deserve to be better known. .

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  5. Sorry, I got cut because my reply was too long. Anyway, I don't know which poem you are referring to when you said you read his 亡者. He has several poems on the subject of death, as far as I am aware. So perhaps you'd be kind enough to let me know its Spanish/English title so that I may share your joy. Whilst translating Lorca, I discovered on the internet that some of his poems have also been translated into Chinese. When I read them, I was furious. They were not translations. They look more like rewriting. That sort of reinforced my intention to give back to Lorca a bit more of his "original" face. 魯 迅 thought that in translation, we must as far as possible retain the original word order and sentence structure so as to let the reader of the translation know how it might have sounded in the original. That's what I try to do in my own translation. But I'm not a professional writer. So I can only do the translations in my spare time. I hope others like them. I'm thinking of starting a Spanish poetry group in Hong Kong so that people who love Spansih poetry may get a chance to get together to exchange ideas about their passion for them. Thanks for visiting. You seem a very talented young artist too. So don't waste your talents.

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