玛丽·奥利弗(Mary Oliver, 1935-),当今美国女诗人,以书写自然著称。1935年9月10日生于美国俄亥俄州,13岁开始写诗,1962年玛丽前往伦敦,任职于移动影院有限公司和莎士比亚剧场。后来奥利弗又回到美国,并定居马萨诸塞州。玛丽·奥利弗没有获得过一个正式的本科文凭,但她的诗歌研讨会却在各地举办并在各大学盛行。她的诗歌赢得了多项奖项,其中包括国家图书奖和普利策诗歌奖(1984年)。她的主要诗集有:《夜晚的旅行者》(1978),《美国原貌》(1983),《灯光的屋宇》(1990),《新诗选》(1992),《白松》(1994)等。
The Swan
天鹅
by Mary Oliver
玛丽·奥利弗
Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?
你是否也看见它,整夜,漂浮在黑暗的河上?
你是否看见它在早晨,飞入银亮的空气——
一束白色的花,
丝绸与亚麻的一阵完美抖动,当它
将头藏进翅膀中;一道雪堤,一片开满百合的坡岸,
它黑色的喙咬紧了空气?
你是否听见它,笛声和哨音
一种尖锐而深沉的音乐——像雨拍打着树——像一片瀑布
冲下黑色的岩石?
你是否看见它,最后,就在云层下——
滑过天空的一个白十字架,它的脚
像黑色的叶子,它的翅膀像河面上伸展的光?
在你心里,是否感受到它如何化归万物?
而你最终领会了,美是为了什么?
并改变了你的生活?