作者简介：安妮•狄勒德（Annie Dillard）, 女，美国重要作家。1945年出生于宾夕法尼亚州的匹兹堡。写诗，写散文，也写小说。主要作品有《溪畔天问》《如此这般的早晨》《美国童年》《教石头说话》等，她的作品多关注生死问题和大自然，1975年她以可与梭罗《瓦尔登湖》相媲美的《溪畔天问》获得非虚构类普利策奖。
《牧歌》
有时当一个农夫扶犁驾牛
驶过原野宽广的表层
天空的穹窿看上去仿佛
将这农夫、犁和牛揽进了自己的怀里
时间似乎被播种进了静默
神的目光落在这些事物轮廊上并使之放大了
一只鸟慢慢飞向天空
它用姿势划出的印痕，把这静默圈围起来
谷物和星星的光亮穿透了薄雾的阴霾
动物牵引着静默穿过人世
那些牛：它们的背部多么宽厚
仿佛这静默是由它们来驮着的
两只母牛在田野上缓缓走着，旁边跟着一个人
这个人像是正从牛背上播撒他的静默
直至耕种到田野里
附：Pastoral
Sometimes when a peasant moves with the plough and the oxen
Over the broad surface of the field ,
It is as if the vault of the sky might take
Up into itself the peasant, the plough, and the oxen.
It is as though time had been sown into silence.
The eye of the gods falls on the figures and they
Increase. A bird flies slowly into the sky.
Its movements are trails that keep the silence enclosed.
Grain and stars shine through the mist and haze.
Animals lead silence through the world of man.
The cattle: the broad surface of their backs…
It is as if they were carrying silence.
Two cows in a field moving with a man beside them:
It is as if the man were pouring down silence
From the backs of the animals on to the fields
《赶紧》
多么好，一切都已安排好了
我们每个人都不会活得过于长久
主要障碍之一———光阴短暂
整个森林都在窃窃私语：“赶紧，赶紧”
多么快活——沿着小路行走
雪在阳光下那么芬芳！像鱼一样在路上滑行！
每当我想到死亡，总会闪现同一个蠢问题：
“还有什么必得做完？”
至于我自己，我只能说出
当我第一次感受消逝，是什么使我惊奇
我记得我的青年时代，那时我在恋爱
我记得一个水洼荡着涟漪，上面虫声嘤嘤
我记得那属于我们自己的春天，圣玛丽亚告诉我：
你已拿走我最好的一切。接下来我还记得
我等了多少夜晚，历经了多少沧桑
只为人世间的这一个夜晚
附：Dash it
How wonderfully it was all arranged that each
Of us had not too long to live. This is one
Of the main snags----the shortness of the day.
The whole wood was whispering ,“Dash it ,dash it…”
What joy---to walk along that path! The snow
Was so fragrant in the sun! What a fish!
Whenever I think of death, the same stupid
Question arises:“what ’s to be done?”
As for myself, I can only speak of what
Made me marvel when I saw it for the first time.
I remember my own youth when I was in love.
I remember a puddle rippling ,the insects aroused.
I remember our own springtime when My Lady told me:
You have taken my best. And I remember
How many evenings I have waited, how much
I have been through for this one evening on earth.
《春天的孩子》
猛然间，绿已出现在树上，仿佛
默默地从一棵树传递到另一棵
孩子们忽然从缝隙里跑出来
把球高高地扔到天上
这个孩子像一个沉默的小山丘
孩子们——一群沉默的小山丘——被分散到
词语的四面八方
鸟儿抛出的歌声的音符，像游戏里的球一样
击打在这沉默上面。词语被沉默引领着
到了这个孩子的嘴边
春天，就像每个音节都已在瞬间
从沉默中分离出来，这个孩子盯着这个字儿
就像看着他自己扔到空中的球
附：The Child in Spring
Suddenly,the green appears on the trees ---as if
The green passed silently from one tree to another.
Children suddenly appear out of the chinks.
They throw their balls high up in the air.
The child is like a little hill of silence.
Children ---little hills of silence---are scattered
Everywhere in the world of words. Birds
Throw notes of their song like ball against
The silence,as in a game. The word is led
By silence to the edge of the child’s mouth.
It is as though each syllable had to detach
Separately from the silence. The child gazes
After its word as it might watch its ball in the air.
《家书片断》
鲜红的豆子结成一架架
雨悦耳地下了两个半小时
空气和煦，黄樱桃的花
正纷纷凋零，几乎就要落光了
雪球花快开了，五月玫瑰也要开放
现在我什么人都没有了，只有你
我想起无数事情
日落时溜出去一路向西，带着桨
在夜色里或月光下划船
晚上结合阅读，胡乱写了些文字
我有钢琴，但很少弹
书对于我就是一切
我四处溜跶，林间空地开阔
我看着每一棵树，啊亲爱的
如果我能有你在这儿，或许我
有那么一阵子会感到幸福
建议你来这里住吧
我们买上五百到六百英亩地
有一个养羊的牧场
我们早晚都吃农家饭
这里还有书。为什么不呢？
可是已经太迟了，炉火发出熄灭前的咔嚓声
这是最后的五月天气了
六月来了，我该闭嘴了
附：From a Letter Home
The Scarlet beans are up in crowds.
It has rained sweetly for two hours and a half;
The air is very mild. The hackberry
Blossoms are dropping off fast, almost gone;
Snowballs coming forward; May roses blossoming.
I have nobody now left but you.
I think of innumerable things; steal out
Westward at sunset, take oar, and row
In the dark or moonlight. In the evening I scribble
A little; all this mixed with reading.
I have a piano, but seldom play.
Books are becoming everything to me.
I stroll, I find the glades empty. I look
At every tree. O my dear bairn,
If I had thee here, I feel as if
I should be quite happy for a while.
I propose you come up here to live.
We will buy together five or six
Hundred acres, and have a sheep farm.
We shall have pleasant breakfast ,dinners.
Here we would have our books. Shall we not?
But this is too late. The fire is at
Its last click. Would this May weather last.
But June comes; the rabid dogs get muzzles.
