失去的藝術—伊麗莎白·畢曉普

（美） 伊麗莎白·畢曉普


失去這門藝術並不難精通；
這麼多事物都有意消失
它們的失去也就不是災禍。

每天都失去一些。接受丟掉
房門鑰匙帶來的一小時慌亂。
失去這門藝術並不難精通。

然後試著丟得更遠，更快：
地址、名字，你本來要去那裡
旅行的。這些都不是什麼災禍。

瞧！我丟掉了母親的手錶。三件
祖傳物品中我最愛或次愛的，
沒了。失去這門藝術並不難精通。

失去兩座可愛的城市。甚至王國，
我擁有過的兩條河流和一片大陸。
令人懷念可是並非一場災禍。

——即使失去你（說著玩的，我喜歡這種口氣）
我也不會扯謊。顯而易見，
失去這門藝術並不難精通，
儘管它看起來像一場災禍。


Miss.G
OneArt
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.