外國散文詩及詩人介紹

查爾斯·皮埃爾·波德萊爾（Charles Pierre Baudelaire）

本欄主持：遠 行

只要離開這個世界

生活，好像醫院，每個病人都期望著換床。一個人喜歡在爐前煎熬，另一個確信在窗前便于恢復健康。

我則要去沒去過的地方，于是，我不間歇地與我的靈魂商榷。

“告訴我，我的靈魂，我可憐的、冰冷的靈魂，你覺得我們生活在里斯本怎樣？那里四季如春，你可以鼓勵自己做個游手好閑的人。那個城市建在海岸上，據說是用大理石建造的。那兒的人痛恨草木，他們拔掉所有的樹。僅有光和礦石的風景很適合你的口味，還有液體來反射它們的倒影！”

我的靈魂沒有回答。

“既然你喜歡寂靜，又要與動的顯示為伴，你想住在荷蘭嗎？一個被祝福的國家，也許那里你會找到快樂，想象你崇拜的藝術畫廊。你覺得鹿特丹怎樣？有你熱愛著的林立的桅桿， 還有系泊在房腳下的帆船。”

我的靈魂依舊沉默。

“或許巴達維亞更吸引你，除其他事物外，那里更有歐洲與熱帶美結合的精華。”

我的靈魂一言不發，它是不是死了？

“既然你這樣的昏聵，想必默認病了？若這樣，我們就跳上形同死亡的平川。你看怎樣，我可憐的靈魂。我們這就打點行裝去托爾訥，或更遠，直到波羅地海的終極，遠離人煙。如果可能，再遠些，定居北極。那里的太陽只斜擦地面。緩慢的光與黑暗的交替，抑制了多變，增強了單調——半虛無。那里，我們沐浴更長久的黑暗，同時，北極光送來瑰麗的射線，就像從地域反射的獨有的焰火！

最后，我的靈魂終于按捺不住，睿智地對我哭道：“不管是哪兒！不管在哪兒！只要離開這個世界！ ”

沉 醉

你總是沉醉著，這是你的所有，也是你的僅有。為了不感到恐怖的時間折斷你的脊背，使你匍匐于大地。你要不停地沉醉。

醉沉于什么？酒，詩，還是美德，隨便你。只要沉醉！

如果有時，在宮殿的臺階上，在溝邊的綠草上，或在孤獨，凄慘的房間里，你再一次醒來，醉意減弱或消失，問風，問波濤，問星辰，問飛鳥，問鐘表，每一件能飛，能呻吟，能旋轉，能唱，能說的東西……問現在是何時。風，波濤，星辰，飛鳥，鐘表會告訴你：“到了沉醉的時刻！為了不做時間殉葬的奴隸，沉醉吧，繼續沉醉于酒，詩，還是美德，隨你的便！”

2009.1 0.2

Anywhere Out of the World

by Charles Baudelaire

This life is a hospital where every patient is possessed with the desire to change beds; one man would like to suffer in front of the stove,and another believes that he would recover his health beside the window.

It always seems to me that I should feel well in the place where I am not, and this question of removal is one which I discuss incessantly with my soul.

'Tell me, my soul, poor chilled soul, what do you think of going to live in Lisbon? It must be warm there, and there you would invigorate yourself like a lizard. This city is on the seashore; they say that it is built of marble and that the people there have such a hatred of vegetation that they uproot all the trees. There you have a landscape that corresponds to your taste! A landscape made of light and mineral,and liquid to ref l ect them!'

My soul does not reply.

'Since you are so fond of stillness, coupled with the show of movement, would you like to settle in Holland, that beatifying country?Perhaps you would f i nd some diversion in that land whose image you have so often admired in the art galleries. What do you think of Rotterdam, you who love forests of masts, and ships moored at the foot of houses?'

My soul remains silent.

'Perhaps Batavia attracts you more? There we should f i nd, amongst other things, the spirit of Europe married to tropical beauty.'

Not a word. Could my soul be dead?

'Is it then that you have reached such a degree of lethargy that you acquiesce in your sickness? If so, let us flee to lands that are analogues of death. I see how it is, poor soul!We shall pack our trunks for Tornio. Let us go farther still to the extreme end of the Baltic; or farther still from life, if that is possible; let us settle at the Pole. There the sun only grazes the earth obliquely, and the slow alternation of light and darkness suppresses variety and increases monotony, that half-nothingness. There we shall be able to take long baths of darkness, while for our amusement the aurora borealis shall send us its rose-coloured rays that are like the ref l ection of Hell's own f i reworks!'

At last my soul explodes, and wisely cries out to me: 'No matter where! No matter where!As long as it's out of the world!'

Be Drunk

by Charles Baudelaire

You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it--it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.

But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again,drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock,everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. ..ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird,clock will answer you: "It is time to be drunk!So as not to be the martyred slaves of time,be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish."