缺席

差一点
我母亲可能就嫁给
来自兹敦斯卡·沃拉的兹比格涅夫·B·先生
他们若有个女儿——不会是我，
也许比较会记名字和脸孔，
任何旋律一听不忘，
擅长分辨鸟类，
化学和物理成绩优异，
波兰文较差，
却偷偷写诗，
一出手就比我的诗迷人许多。

差一点点，
我父亲可能就在同一时间娶了
来自扎科帕内的雅德维加·R·小姐。
他们若有个女儿——也不会是我，
也许会比较顽固地坚持立场，
一无所惧地跳进深水中，
容易为集体情绪所感染。
在一些场合总可以立刻看到她，
但鲜少带着书本，更常在操场上
和男生一起踢球。

她们甚至可能相遇于
同一所学校，同一个班级。
但志趣并不相投，
不同类，
班级合照里隔得远远的。

站过来，女孩们——
摄影师会这么喊——
矮得在前，高的在后。
我说笑一个时就开心地笑。
再清查一次人数，
都到了吗？

——是的，全员到齐。

作者 / [波兰] 维斯拉瓦·辛波斯卡
翻译 / 陈黎、张芬龄
翻译 / 《给所有昨日的诗》，浦睿文化，2018

ABSENCE

A few minor changes
and my mother might have married
Mr. Zbigniew B. from Zdunska Wola.
And if they’d had a daughter—she wouldn’t have been me.
Maybe with a better memory for names and faces,
and any melody heard once.
Adept at telling one bird from another.
With perfect grades in chemistry and physics,
and worse in Polish,
but secretly writing poems
instantly more interesting than mine.

A few minor changes
and my father might at that same time have married
Miss Jadwiga R. from Zakopane.
And if they’d had a daughter—she wouldn’t have been me.
Maybe standing her ground more stubbornly.
Plunging headfirst into deep water.
Susceptible to group emotions.
Always seen in several spots at once,
but rarely with a book, more often in the yard
playing kickball with the boys.

They might even have met
in the same school, the same room.
But not kindred spirits,
no affinities,
at opposite ends of class photos.

Stand here, girls
—the photographer would call

shorter girls in front, tall girls behind.
And big smiles when I say cheese.
But one more head count,
that’s everyone?

—Yes sir, that’s all.

Wislawa Szymborska

估计谁都有过这么“中二”的想法吧，如果你的妈妈没有嫁给你的爸爸，那么你会在哪里？你是在这个世界上“缺席”了吗，还是以其他形态分别寄宿在你的父亲和母亲的其他可能的子女的体内？当这些实际上并不相干的人因为某种机缘巧合，相聚在一起，那时的你是否等于已经“在场”，或者“全员到齐”，还是你就是“机缘巧合”本身？而不巧的是，他们却没有结婚。

荐诗 / 何信步
2018/04/14

题图 / Eduardo Pedro