瓶装酒

我喜欢把车停在离主人家几个街区远的地方
拎着一瓶红酒走过绿树成荫的街道
期待片刻后与朋友欢聚
一瓶红酒，不仅是受邀的谢礼，
更是身在其中的参与
献上一份只在今夜的礼物，
是超脱物外的心情，
是活在当下的平静。
我们即将举杯，
一杯敬相聚
一杯致别离
这酒则启程进入历史，
渐渐离我远去。此刻我正路过的房子
是否看着我也像看着某个即将消逝的生命，
消逝于阴影之域，它们却能岿然不动？
但我手中这瓶酒，
正来自过去对现在的升华。
酒里的葡萄
早在七年前的勃艮第
就开始了采摘和压榨
酿造的工艺，久远到代代传家
而那时，这些房子
还未从蓝图变成砖瓦。
这瓶酒证明
那些曾经备受尊敬的传统，
人们仍在坚守，以耐心，以骄傲。
如果这样的传统尚在，那么未来是否也在？
如是我想，我正致力的传承若恒久流传，
不论其周遭世界如何变迁，
未来时代的宾客是否仍会坚持？
希望今晚晚些时候，
当我两手空空走回我的车时，
能在这树下感受到它们存在。

作者 / [美国] 卡尔·丹尼斯
译者 / 唐小七

Bottle of Wine

I like to park a few blocks from the house of my hosts
And walk with my bottle of wine the tree-lined streets,
Anticipating the dinner with friends that awaits me.
A bottle of wine showing not only that I’m grateful
To be included but that I’m eager to do my part,
To offer a gift that won’t survive the evening,
That says I’ve set aside the need for transcendence
And made my peace at last with living in time.
Soon we’ll welcome the evening with a toast.
Soon we’ll be toasting it in farewell
As it starts on its journey into the near past
And then the far. Do the houses I’m passing
Regard me as a creature about to vanish
Into the realm of shadow while they have resolved
To hold their ground? But the bottle I’m carrying
Shows how the past can enhance the present.
The grapes it was made from were plucked and pressed
Seven years ago in a vineyard in Burgundy
According to customs already in place for generations
By the time these houses moved from the realm
Of blueprints and estimates into brick and wood.
The bottle will testify that traditions once honored
Are being adhered to still, with patience, with pride.
And if the past is present this evening, isn’t the future
Present as well in the thought that the ritual
I’m helping to pass along will prove enduring,
That however much the world around it may alter,
Guests will still perform it in eras to come?
I hope I feel their presence in spirit
Under these trees later this evening
As I walk back to my car with empty hands.

Carl Dennis

读到这首诗时，我恰好在盘算为即将到来的一次朋友聚会准备什么礼物——按照我的习惯，应该会选择带一瓶葡萄酒。

这么巧，这位诗人和我想的一样：酒既可以表达感谢，又可以立刻在聚会中和朋友们一起享用，彰显我对欢聚和友情的期待与投入。再一查诗人卡尔·丹尼斯，竟然就出生在我此刻身处的美国中西部某城市，诗中绿树成荫的路莫不就是我每天徘徊往返的小径？

万物静默如谜，谜在万物间玄妙莫测的联系。诗人在拎着红酒走向朋友家的短短几分钟里，穿梭于过去和未来，想到七年前的勃艮第葡萄，流传数个世代的酿酒工艺，路旁坚固的房子，终将消逝的自己——以及最重要的，很多年以后，是不是还会有人像他一样，继续持守做客的礼数，比如去朋友家时也带上一瓶连接过去、现在和未来的葡萄酒？

丹尼斯今天79岁高龄，这首诗是他的近作。他在诗里说终于能够心平气和地活在当下（made my peace at last with living in time），接下来却几乎每句话都指向过去或未来。或许这才是living in time的真实含义吧：在时间的河流中游弋，此刻既是过去，又是未来。

荐诗 / 唐小七
2018/09/13

题图 / Auguste Herbin