Friday, April 5, 2013

In me the tiger sniffs the rose 心有猛虎,细嗅蔷薇

In me, past, present, future meet
To hold long chiding conference.
My lusts usurp the present tense
And strangle Reason in his seat.
My loves leap through the future’s fence
To dance with dream-enfranchised feet.

In me the cave-man clasps the seer,
And garlanded Apollo goes
Chanting to Abraham’s deaf ear.
In me the tiger sniffs the rose.
Look in my heart, kind friends, and tremble,
Since there your elements assemble.

- Siegfried Sassoon


本詩是反戰的西格夫里‧薩松(1886年9月8日-1967年9月1日,英國詩人)在第一次世界大戰後,1928年,所發表的詩作《The Heart's Journey,no. 7》。

戰爭使人變得複雜,心中不時交織著矛盾與掙扎,因殘酷現狀而深受「貪念」誘惑,又期待著愛情來到與夢想實現的一天,作者必須以猛虎的心態與姿態來熬過現實,但本性善良易感的特質在沒有防備時也不時跳出來一下,於是有了「猛虎和薔薇」的出現。

余光中先生曾在1952年寫散文《猛虎和蔷薇》,譯英國詩人西格夫里‧薩松的句子「In me the tiger sniffe the rose. 心有猛虎,細嗅薔薇。」這一句,說的是人性的兩面:陽剛與陰柔。

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