丹尼丝·莱维尔托芙(Denise Levertov)是美国有重要影响的当代女诗人,1923年出生于英国伊尔福特。母亲是威尔士人;父亲是从德国移居英格兰的犹太人,后来在一间英国圣公会教堂担任神甫。莱维尔托芙自幼在家接受教育,五岁就立志成为作家。1947年与美国作家米切尔·古德曼(Mitchell Goodman)结婚后移居美国,二人后来离异。
穿越
Passage
by Denise Levertov/莱维尔托芙
The spirit that walked upon the face of the waters
Walks the meadow of long grass:
Green shines to silver where the spirit passes.
那曾在水面上运行的灵
正走过没膝的草场:
那灵所到之处,绿草就发出银光。
Wind from the compass points, sun at meridian,
These are forms the spirit enters,
breath, ruach, light that is witness and by which we witness.
那自四面到临的风,天顶的太阳,
是这灵所进入的形体,
气息,圣灵,光,它的见证亦使我们见证。
The grasses numberless, bowing and rising, silently
Cry hosanna as the spirit
moves them and moves burnishing
无以计数的草,绵延拜倒起身,
默念着和散那,当这灵
在闪亮的运行中将它们触动
over and again upon mountain pastures
a day of spring, a needle’s eye
space and time are passing through like a swathe of silk.
一次,又一次,在山坡的草场,
在一个春日,一个针眼里,
时间和空间像一根丝带穿越。