当你购物时，想起逝去的友人
DOWNPOUR
倾盆大雨
作者：Billy Collins
译者：Tinkie
Last night we ended up on the couch
trying to remember
all of the friends who had died so far,
and this morning I wrote them down
in alphabetical order
on the flip side of a shopping list
you had left on the kitchen table.
昨晚，
我们蜷缩在沙发上
竭力记起
迄今为止
已逝的所有友人，
今早，
我按字母顺序
在你放在桌子上的
购物清单背面
写下他们的名字
So many of them had been swept away
as if by a hand from the sky,
it was good to recall them,
I was thinking
under the cold lights of a supermarket
as I guided a cart with a wobbly wheel
up and down the long strident aisles.
那么多人已经离去
彷佛被空中的一只手，一下挥走了，
想起他们是那么令人心安
我边推着
轮子摇摇晃晃的手推车
在长长的、刺耳的过道里上上下下
边在超市的寒灯下沉思着
I was on the lookout for blueberries,
English muffins, linguini, heavy cream,
light bulbs, apples, Canadian bacon,
and whatever else was on the list,
which I managed to keep grocery side up,
until I had passed through the electric doors,
where I stopped to realize,
as I turned the list over,
that I had forgotten Terry O’Shea
as well as the bananas and the bread.
我在寻找蓝莓，
英式松饼，意大利面条，浓奶油，
灯泡，苹果，加拿大培根，
不管名单上还有什么，
我设法暂时忘却杂货店，
直到我穿过电动门，
我才突然意识到——
我迅速把购物清单翻过来，发现
我忘了特里·奥谢
还有香蕉和面包。
It was pouring by then,
spilling, as they say in Ireland,
people splashing across the lot to their cars.
And that is when I set out,
walking slowly and precisely,
a soaking-wet man
bearing bags of groceries,
walking as if in a procession honoring the dead.
当时正大雨倾盆
就像他们说的
在爱尔兰的停车场
人们向他们的汽车泼水
当我出发的时候
缓慢而谨慎地走着
一个浑身湿透的人
提着一个购物包，慢慢向前走着
好像在行进中
向死者致敬
I felt I owed this to Terry,
who was such a strong painter,
for almost forgetting him
and to all the others who had formed
a circle around him on the screen in my head.
我觉得这是我亏欠特里的，
他是一个那么了不起的画家
我却几乎忘了他
于是，
在我脑海的屏幕上
所有呈像的人
都绕着他转了一圈
I was walking more slowly now
in the presence of the compassion
the dead were extending to a comrade,
plus I was in no hurry to return
to the kitchen, where I would have to tell you
all about Terry and the bananas and the bread.
我现在走得更慢了
在同情面前
死者向一位同志伸出援手，
加上我并不急着返回
厨房——
因为在那儿
我不得不告诉你
关于特里、香蕉和面包的一切。
