W. S. 默温（W. S. Merwin, 1927-2019）是一位非常多产的诗人，美国第17届桂冠诗人（2010-11年）。他所获奖项包括普利策诗歌奖（两次）、国家图书奖以及美国诗歌协会的坦宁奖（Tanning Prize）等。他以其深刻的生态意识、灵性探索以及对语言的敏锐掌握而闻名，而常在诗歌中使用水的意象来探讨宗教、时间与生命的主题。今天的两首诗选自他1983年的诗集Opening the Hand《张开手》。
《水体》
我是整个夏季，记忆所存
超过我所知
仿佛任何事皆可能停滞
在水体
有生命出现，显得在等待
而我走向它们，注视着
声音在水中传播但并非
我至今所称的
太阳与月亮照进
流动的水
而许多日子过后
我不曾想到的欢欣与悲伤降临我
这身体的梦不停更换，从中醒来
知道它们在哪里
永不死灭的面孔归来
穿过凡人的水域走向我们的光
The Waters
I was the whole summer remembering
more than I knew
as though anything could stand still
in the waters
there were lives that turned and appeared to wait
and I went toward them looking
sounds carry in water but not
what I called so far
sun and moon shone into
the moving water
and after many days
joys and griefs I had not thought were mine
woke in this body’s altering dream
knowing where they were
faces that would never die returned
toward our light through mortal waters
《夕照之水》
我父亲看起来真苍白 在水中
他游了一辈子 狗刨式
屏住急促的呼吸 挤出尴尬的微笑
他走后很久我摇晃 在大海边际平滑的波浪中
一座小山脚下 那是我从未见过的
或者只是我这么想象 当夕阳西下
尖啸的夜鸟 以及孩子们的叫喊
彼此呼应回荡 越过水面
红色波浪一声一道流出自身穿过我
Sunset Water
How white my father looked in the water
all his life he swam doggie paddle
holding hurried breaths steering an embarrassed smile
long after he has gone I rock in smooth waves near the edge of the sea
at the foot of a hill I never saw before
or so I imagine as the sun is setting
sharp evening birds and voices of children
echo each other across the water
one by one the red waves out of themselves reach through me
