[西班牙馬德里，一九五六年七月] @ 蔗尾蜂房

[西班牙馬德里，一九五六年七月]
--Sylvia Plath, 羅浩原譯

如果妳能看到現在的我該多好，
穿得少少、坐得高高、七層樓高
在呼嘯的現代都會馬德里上空
在我倆寬闊的私密
陽台，黃藍相間的鮮豔磁磚鋪得滿地滿牆滿櫃，
幾盆天竺葵、常春藤，面對著奇形怪狀
幢幢尖塔與絢爛的藍天，就算都這時候，快晚上八點了…

太美好了，不管泰德與我走到何處
似乎總是討人們喜歡。我倆不可思議地契合；
恰好需要同樣多的睡眠與食物還有時間
來創作；同樣不愛往外跑，
幾近於反社會
只因我們不愛社交宴會而最愛
與樸實、謙遜、努力工作的人作伴，而他們
總是很快與我們打成一片

…說來說去，我從未感到自己土生土長
除非像在西班牙這樣的國家。第一眼就是斑爛的色彩
從火車車窗我倆一路望下去
盡是超乎我想像的鮮豔…絢爛的黃色、
褐色與淡綠的田野，蒼藍的天，墨綠的松
白色的磚房有橘色的瓦頂，
這一切的一切，天賜呀，一派田園風光
羊與牛的
故鄉…

最棒的是，這裡讓我有了輕盈、
清晰的頭腦，我從未想過能狀況這麼好
這才驚覺我以前的負荷有多沉重
全壓在我腦迴路裡!我有生一次感到神志清明、
怡然自得地充滿元氣與活力…我滿心
歡喜只要一想著還要再來這裡
兩次，每次五週，在未來一年之內。

這個夏天要把西班牙文
學溜，然後回劍橋繼續自修
在西班牙的都心當然學得快多了
這裡大家都好熱心
要教我倆生字與發音…
西班牙不啻是天堂…
有泰德與我在一起…

P.S.此作原文是Sylvia Plath寫給母親的信,由筆者重新排版斷句譯成.

Quoted from: Sylvia Plath, Aurelia Schober Plath, ed., Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963 (New York: HarperPerennial, 1992), p.261.

[Madrid, Spain July 7, 1956]
--Sylvia Plath

If only you could see me now,
Sitting in halter and shorts seven stories high
Above the modern tooting city of Madrid
On our large, private
Balcony with gay blue-and-yellow tiles on floor and wall shelves,
Pots of geranium and ivy, and across baroque
Towers and a blazing blue sky, even now, going on 8 p.m. ...

It is so wonderful that wherever Ted and I go
People seem to love us. We are fantastically matched;
Both of us need the same amount of sleep and food and time
For writing; both are inner-directed,
Almost anti-social
In that we don’t like functional parties and are happiest
With simple, unpretentious working people, who
Adopt us immediately

...Anyway, I have never felt so native
To a country as I do to Spain. First of all, the colors
We saw from the train window all the way down
Were brighter than I thought possible…blazing yellow,
Tan and light-green fields under a blue-white sky, green-black pine
Trees, white adobe houses with orange tile roofs,
And all, bless it, utterly agricultural
Or sheep and bull
Country...

Best of all, I have a light,
Clear head that I never knew was possible.
I never knew what a load of weight I was carrying
In my sinuses! For the first time in my life I feel clear-headed,
Vigorous and energetic in my own fashion…I am utterly
Delighted at the thought of coming back here
For two 5-week periods during the year.

Plan to learn Spanish
Cold this summer and study it on my own at Cambridge.
It is so much faster here, in the center of Spain,
Where everyone is only too eager
To teach us words and pronunciation...
Spain is utter heaven...
With Ted and me...