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Because I could not stop for Death
Emily Dickinson(1830-1886)
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 't is centuries;
But each feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
迪金森的诗歌都是在她去世之后整理出版的,都没有题目,
编者一般以诗歌首句为题目,或简单地用数字编号。
译文:
人的死通常不是故意的,因此不是突然停止生命,死通常
是个缓慢的过程,所以说死善良地等待我。带我们走向死亡的
车载着我们和永生。(表示人一直与永生为伴,即使形体死了,
她的精神还是得到了永生)
去世的过程总很缓慢,死神也不会催促我,而此时我已经
放下了所有劳作和享乐,就等待着到达死亡的临界。
此时回忆起孩提时玩耍的学校而当时的作业几乎没有做;
回忆起田野里金灿灿的谷穗;回忆起美丽的日落西山。
我们在象是从地下冒出来的房子前驻足,屋顶几乎高不可
见,只能看见屋檐不过却象一个个的土丘。(这间房子就是她
的坟墓,她在弥留之际想着自己的归宿。这一切都是她的想象,
因为她的一生大部分时间都在思考有关死亡的事情)
在死亡之后,时间过得很快,一个世纪还不如死前展望永
生时的一天长。(至于为什么如此,全凭读者猜测)
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