中国文学英译絮谈

沙枫

“天若有情天亦老”

《迂叟诗话》说：李长吉歌“天若有情天亦老”，人以为奇绝难对。石曼卿对以词曰：“月如无恨月常园”，足为劲敌。

“天若有情天亦老”是李贺最有名的句子，出自《金铜仙人辞汉歌》，全诗如下：

茂陵刘郎秋风客，夜闯马嘶晓无迹。
画栏桂树悬秋香，三十六宫土花碧。
魏官牵车指千里，东关酸风射眸子。
空将汉月出宫门，忆君清泪如铅水。
衰兰送客咸阳道，天若有情天亦老。
携盘独出月荒凉，渭城已远波声小。

这首歌，有英人 Graham 与 Frodsham 两人的英译。Graham 的译文如下：

Boy Liu in Leafy Mound, visitor of the autumn wind......
In the night I heard his horse shinny, at sunrise saw no track.
On the cassia tree by the painted rail, the scent of autumn hangs;
In his thirty-six palaces, the dust blooms emerald.
Wei's servants haul the cart, point ahead a thousand miles;
A sour wind shoots from the east pass at my pupils.
The moon of Han in vain with me I come forth at the palace gate;
At your memory the transparent tears are like molten lead.
Withering orchids escort me along the Hsien-yang road;
If heaven too had passions even heaven would grow old.
With the pan in my hands I come forth alone under the desolate moon;
The city on the Wei far back now, quiet the waves.

“天若有情天亦老”，他是译作“If heaven too had passions even heaven would grow old”，是译得不错的。

Frodsham 则把“天若有情天亦老”译作：

If God could suffer as we do
God too would grow old.

他把“天”译作“God”，不如译作“Heaven”。

吴经熊与柳无忌也是把“天”译作“Heaven”的。吴译是：

If heaven has the feelings of man,
Heaven itself would have grown old.

柳译是：

If Heaven has feelings,
Heaven will be aged.

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