PEACH

Would you like to throw a stone at me?

Here, take all that's left of my peach.

Blood-red, deep;

Heaven knows how it came to pass (1).

Somebody's pound of flesh (2) rendered up.

Wrinkled with secrets?

And hard with the intention to keep them.

Why, from silvery peach-bloom,

From that shallow-silvery wine-glass on a short stem

This rolling, dropping, heavy globule?

I am thinking, of course, of the peach before I ate it.

Why so velvety, why so voluptuous heavy?

Why hanging with such inordinate weight?

Why so indented

Why the groove?

Why the lovely, bivalve roundnesses?

Why the ripple down the sphere?

Why the suggestion of incision?

Why was not my peach round and finished like a billiard ball?

It would have been if man had made it.

Though I've eaten it now.

But it wasn't round and finished like a billiard ball.

And because I say so, you would like to throw something at me.

Here, you can have my peach stone.

San Gervasio.

桃

 Asuba译

你想扔我一块石头吗？

那，把我剩下的桃子拿去吧。

殷红的，深深的；

天知道它是怎么长成的。

谁的一磅血肉被放弃。

褶皱里裹着秘密？

还试图抵死保守。

为何，自粉白的桃花

自那晶亮的矮脚红酒杯

这摇曳，欲坠，沉沉的液滴？

我想的，当然，是我吃之前的那个桃子。

为何这般绒柔，为何这般撩人？

为何悬着如此沉甸的份量？

为何这般凹凸有致？

为何有那沟槽？

为何有那可爱的、双瓣的圆润？

为何有那涟漪滑下半球？

为何有那暗示的切口？

为何我的桃子不如台球圆实完美？

它本可以的，如果人那般制造它。

尽管现在我已经吃了它。

但它并没有如台球般圆实完美。

因为我这么说，你想朝我扔东西。

来，你可以将我的桃核拿去。

—— 于托斯卡纳圣赫瓦西欧

注释：

（1）come to pass (happen), 语出《圣经》，意为“发生，出现，实现”。

（2）pound of flesh, 典故出自莎士比亚戏剧《威尼斯商人》，犹太人放贷者夏洛克借钱给仇人安东尼，要他如还不起钱就割一磅肉抵债，后安东尼破产，但在朋友的帮助下，夏洛克败诉，害人不成反丢财产。此语后引申为“不合情理的合法诉求”。这里采取直译，保留语言的直观形象。

(2010.7.22)

来源：asuba新浪博客 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_496b025b0100l0in.html