有何胜利可言

谢益辉 2018-09-28

去年我提到芒格常引用的那句《未必要有希望才能坚持》,今天偶尔翻到一首诗,看到最后一句时,暗想这两个相隔三四百年的人说的话竟然如此相似。以下据说是陈宁的译作(我是第一次听说作者里尔克和译者陈宁):

只要你曾经看见一次,
看见命运怎样进入诗行,
一去不回,
怎样在其中变成画像,
仅仅是画像,
仅仅是一个先祖,
你偶尔瞻仰时画框里的让你觉得
既像你又不像你的一个先祖——
你也就会一直隐忍。

思考那并不存在的事,
不过是小题大做,
不过是一个比喻式的责备的一个假象,
对你无所中伤。
发生的事,
就这样领先于我们的料想,
因此我们从未追赶上它,
从未获知它本真的形貌。

不要羞惭,
当坚持到终点的那些死者与你擦肩而过的时候,
(终点意味着什么?)同他们用眼色交谈吧,
平静地,当作习俗,
不要惧怕我们的悲哀会异样地成为你的负担,
会使你在死者中显得醒目。
伟大的词语,出自发生的事
依然可见的时代,并非为我们而存在。
谁还在言及胜利呢?忍耐就是一切。

我看东西有个习惯,就是每次看到翻译过来的文字如果心有所动,那么就会去找一下原文,但限于我只懂英文一门外语,所以有些原文不是英文的我也只能找来英文翻译对照看看(上面的原文为德文):

Had you once
perceived how fate may pass into a verse
and not come back, how, once in, it turns image,
nothing but image, but an ancestor,
who sometimes, when you watch him in his frame,
seems to be like you and again not like you: -
you would have persevered.

But this is petty,
thinking of what was not. And some appearance
of undeserved reproach in these comparings.
Whatever happens has had such a start
of our supposing that we never catch it,
never experience what it really looked like.

Don’t be ashamed, when the dead brush against you,
those other dead, who held out to the end.
(What, after all, does end mean?) Exchange glances
peacefully with them, as is customary,
and have no fear of being conspicuous
through carrying the burden of our grief.
The big words from those ages when as yet
happening was visible are not for us.
Who talks of victory? To endure is all.

顺便想起一次我看到一段村上春树小说里的话,找英文版怎么都找不到看起来恰当的翻译(,但英文翻译看起来语法似乎都不太对),最后只好找个日本人问问。伊给我发来原文:

世界には涙を流すことのできない哀しみというのが存在するのだ。それは誰に向っても説明することができないし、たとえ説明できたとしても、誰にも理解してもらうことのできない種類のものなのだ。その哀しみはどのような形に変えることもできず、風のない夜の雪のようにただ静かに心に積っていくだけのものなのだ。

显然我只能看懂几个汉字。伊自己翻译了一下,说可能丢失了一些雅致:

There exists in the world sadness that cannot be expressed with tears. This is something you cannot explain it to someone; even if you can explain, it is a type that no one will understand. That sadness cannot be turned into any shape; like the snow in a windless night, it just silently accumulates in your heart.

在《深度工作》和《优秀到无法被忽视》两本书中,作者(同一人)都特别强调了工匠精神,赞扬他们深入细节的品质。有些职业中的细节程度在我眼中确实是无法想象,比如诗人、作家和画家,他们的感知力和想象力比普通人强大太多倍。