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“True Night”, Alvin Feinman

June 11, 2023

True Night

So it is midnight, and all
The angels of ordinary day gone,
The abiding absence between day and day
Come like true and only rain
Comes instant, eternal, again:

As though an air had opened without sound
In which all things are sanctified,
In which they are at prayer—
The drunken man in his stupor,
The madman’s lucid shrinking circle;

As though all things shone perfectly,
Perfected in self-discrepancy:
The widow wedded to her grief,
The hangman haloed in remorse—
I should not rearrange a leaf,

No more than wish to lighten stones
Or still the sea where it still roars—
Here every grief requires its grief,
Here every longing thing is lit
Like darkness at an altar.

As long as truest night is long,
Let no discordant wing
Corrupt these sorrows into song.

真夜

于是到了午夜,一切
平日的天使都已离去,
日与日间持久的空缺
如真实而唯一的雨到来
此刻,永恒,再次到来:

仿佛空气无声地敞开
在其中一切事物都变得神圣
都在祈祷——
醉汉在他的恍惚中,
疯子清醒并收缩的圆环;

仿佛一切事物都完美地闪烁,
在自我的差异中完满:
寡妇嫁给她的忧愁,
刽子手于悔恨中披上光环——
我不应重新摆放一片叶子,

也不应希望变轻石头
或静止仍轰鸣的海——
此处每一哀伤都要求其哀伤
此处每一向往之物都被照亮
如黑暗在祭坛之上。

只要最真实的夜还漫长,
就不要让不和的羽翼
令这些悲痛堕落成歌唱。

  • Poetry
  • Translation
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