来自印度道场的两首诗
Two Poems from an Ashram in India
第一首
First
这些甘露天堂的言谈开始令我倒胃，
All this talk of nectar and bliss is starting to piss me off.
朋友，我不知你的情况，
I don't know about you, my friend,
但通往神的道路对我而言可不芳香，
but my path to God ain't no sweet waft of incense.
仿佛把猫放入鸽笼，
It's a cat set loose in a pigeon pen,
我是那猫——
and I'm the cat—
也是被钉住而大吼大叫的那些人。
but also them who yell like hell when they get pinned.
通往神的道路对我而言是劳工暴动，
My path to God is a worker's uprising,
除非组成工会，否则不得平静。
won't be peace till they unionize.
这些示威者如此令人生畏，国民警卫队不敢靠前。
Their picket is so fearsome the National Guard won't go near them.
我的前方道路久经践踏、失去知觉，
My path was beaten unconscious before me,
是我未能见到的小棕人所为，
by a small brown man I never got to see,
他追赶神穿越印度，泥巴及胫，
who chased God through India, shin-deep in mud,
赤脚，缺粮，疟疾缠身，
barefoot and famined, malarial blood,
睡在门口、桥下——一个游民。
sleeping in doorways, under bridges—a hobo.
（可知，这是前往返乡途中的简称）
(Which is short for "homeward bound," you know)
如今他追赶我，说：小莉，懂了没？
And he now chases me, saying: "Got it yet, Liz?
‘返乡’是何意？何谓‘前往’的真实意义？
What HOMEWARD means? What BOUND really is?"