沃爾特·惠特曼[1]

我在路易斯安那看見一棵橡樹在生長，

它孤獨(dú)站立，樹枝垂掛著苔蘚，

佇立于此，沒有一個(gè)同伴，

卻長出了蒼綠的歡樂葉片，

它的樣子粗俗、剛直、健壯，讓我想到自己，

它孤獨(dú)站在那里，沒有一個(gè)朋友，卻迸發(fā)出快樂的葉子，

這讓我感到驚奇，因?yàn)槲颐靼孜易霾坏剑?

我折下一根帶有綠葉的細(xì)枝，

上面還纏著少許青苔，

我把它帶回來，擺在屋中能看到的地方，

不需要它提醒，我就想到親愛的朋友，

（因?yàn)槲矣X得近來我經(jīng)常想到他們）

這樹枝于我仍然是一個(gè)奇妙的象征，

它使我想到男子氣概的愛；

盡管啊，盡管那棵橡樹孤獨(dú)地生長在

路易斯安那廣袤的平原上，

身邊沒有一個(gè)朋友或情侶，

卻仍能迸發(fā)著歡樂的葉子，閃耀發(fā)光，

我很清楚我做不到。

I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing

Walt Whitman

I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,

All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,

Without any companion it stood there uttering

joyous leaves of dark green,

And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,

But I wondered how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone

there without its friend near, for I knew I could not,

And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it,

and twined around it a little moss,

And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,

It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,

(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them,)

Yet it remains to me a curious token,

it makes me think of manly love;

For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in

Louisiana solitary in a wide flat space,

Uttering joyous leaves all its life

without a friend or lover near,

I know very well I could not.

注釋：

[1]沃爾特·惠特曼1819—1892，出生于紐約州長島，美國著名詩人、人文主義者，創(chuàng)造了詩歌的自由體（Free Verse）。其代表作品是詩集《草葉集》。