蔗尾蜂房

[犰狳]
-- Elizabeth Bishop(1911-1979)
(贈羅勃．洛威爾)

每年這個時候
幾乎每一夜都會出現
許多薄弱的、非法施放的天燈。
一盞盞爬昇到山際，

去陛見一位得道高人
這位山人在這一帶仍頗受敬重，
紙房子裡紅通通的充滿了光
來來去去，如一顆顆的心。

當天燈昇至天際
就很難分清何者是星星——
行星群，也就是——那些朦朦朧朧的：
金星漸漸沉落，或火星，

或淡青色的那顆星。在風中，
天燈乎明乎暗，板蕩飄搖；
但若得一刻安寧它們就穩穩航向
南十字星座的鳶尾形之際，

而後緩緩下降、逐一失落，肅靜
又堅定地拋棄了我們，
抑或是，在登峰造極後向下沉淪
剎那間變成危險。

昨夜又一龐然天燈墜地。
它如一粒火卵啪嗒一聲
火花四濺於屋後的山崖上。
餘焰流洩。我們望見一雙

貓頭鷹的巢穴在彼故振翅飛起
飛起，牠們黑白交錯的盤旋
掩映著底下桃色的光焰，直到
牠們嚎叫著飛離了我們的視線。

老貓頭鷹的巢一定被燒掉了。
急急忙忙，孤孤單單，
一隻斑爛的犰狳離開了現場，
身上點點緋色、垂著頭、縮著尾，

繼而一隻小兔子一躍而出，
捲著耳朵，嚇了我們一跳。
如此柔軟！——如一握捉摸不定的灰燼
帶著一對凝視的、灼熱的眼睛。

美極了，如夢似幻的應物象形！
嗚呼天火墜地繼而尖聲呼嘯
繼而倉皇，一隻生著鱗卻柔軟的拳頭
握成一團渾然不知地頂天立地！


[The Armadillo]
(For Robert Lowell)

This is the time of year
when almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,

rising toward a saint
still honored in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.

Once up against the sky it's hard
to tell them from the stars--
planets, that is--the tinted ones:
Venus going down, or Mars,

or the pale green one. With a wind,
they flare and falter, wobble and toss;
but if it's still they steer between
the kite sticks of the Southern Cross,

receding, dwindling, solemnly
and steadily forsaking us,
or, in the downdraft from a peak,
suddenly turning dangerous.

Last night another big one fell.
It splattered like an egg of fire
against the cliff behind the house.
The flame ran down. We saw the pair

of owls who nest there flying up
and up, their whirling black-and-white
stained bright pink underneath, until
they shrieked up out of sight.

The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
Hastily, all alone,
a glistening armadillo left the scene,
rose-flecked, head down, tail down,

and then a baby rabbit jumped out,
short-eared, to our surprise.
So soft!--a handful of intangible ash
with fixed, ignited eyes.

Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry!
O falling fire and piercing cry
And panic, and a weak mailed fist
Clenched ignorant against the sky!