奧巴馬就職頌詩＜歌頌讚美這一天＞ @ Cucurrucucu House

22 January,2009 9:04

奧巴馬就職頌詩＜歌頌讚美這一天＞

＜歌頌讚美這一天＞

伊莉莎白．亞歷山大

每一天我們匆匆於生計，與每個人擦身而過，彼此交換或不交換眼神，想要寒喧或寒喧一番。我們身邊盡是喧囂。我們身邊盡是喧囂、荊棘、針刺、吵鬧，我們舌頭把祖先掛在嘴上。現在，有人要縫合傷口，要織補制服的破洞，要修補輪胎，讓破缺的事物回歸正常。

有人困勉地創造音樂，手持一對鼓棒擊打油鼓，還有大提琴、手提音響、口琴、歌喉。

一個女人跟兒子等盼公車。一個農民觀察幻變的天空。一個教師說，「拿出你們的鉛筆。開始。」

我們透過語字和每個人相遇，那尖刺或平滑、細語或朗頌的語字；我們透過語字去思考，再深思。

我們穿越許多鄉土路和高速公路，某人願望所標誌的路途，接著有些人同聲說，「我想看看另一邊的世界」、「我知道那條路走向更好的事物。」

我們需要找到一個安全地方，我們步入茫茫未知的視野。淺顯地說，為了這一天，許多人死亡了。歌頌這些死難者的名字吧，他們引領我們走到這裡，他們鋪設鐵軌，搭建橋樑，收獲棉花與萵苣，一磚一瓦築構了閃耀的樓廈，然後他們衣著潔淨走入樓廈，繼續勞動。

歌頌讚美生命的奮鬥；歌頌讚美這一天。歌頌讚美每一個手寫名牌上的名字，廚房桌上被點算的隸僕們。他們有些人生命堅信「愛鄰如己」，有些人堅信「絕不傷害他人」或是「節度不貪」。

最強大的語字就是愛，愛超越婚姻、血脈、國族。愛會散發池水漫溢般的光亮。愛無需先訴悲歎。今天刺骨而閃亮的冬季空氣之中，一切事物都可能成功，一切話語滿溢到胸膛、到喉嚨、到舌頭。歌頌讚美我們前行在這片光亮。

(許偉泰譯)

Elixabeth Alexander

＜Praise Song for the day＞

Elizabeth Alexander

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says,“Take out your pencils. Begin.”

We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see. Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables. Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance. In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp — praise song for walking forward in that light.