PAPER BOATS
Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream.
In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live.
I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am.
I load my little boats with shiuli flowers from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night.
I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting their white bulging sails.
I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats!
When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars.
The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading is their baskets full of dreams.
纸船
我每天把纸船一个个放在急流的溪中。
我用大黑字把我的名字和我住的村名写在纸船上。
我希望住在异地的人会得到这纸船，知道我是谁。
我把园中长的秀利花载在我的小船上，希望这些黎明开的花能在夜里被平平安安地带到岸上。
我把我的纸船投到水里，仰望天空，看见小朵的云正张着满鼓着风的白帆。
我不知道天上有我的什么游伴把这些船放下来同我的船比赛！
夜来了，我的脸埋在手臂里，梦见我的纸船在子夜的星光下缓缓地浮泛向前。
睡仙坐在船里，带着满载着梦的篮子。
THE SAILOR
The boat of the boatman Madhu is moored at the wharf of Rajgunj.
It is uselessly laden with jute, and has been lying there idle for ever so long.
If he would only lend me his boat, I should man her with a hundred oars, and hoist sails, five or six or seven.
I should never steer her to stupid markets.
I should sail the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland.
But, mother, you won't weep for me in a corner.
I am not going into the forest like Ramachandra to come back only after fourteen years.
I shall become the prince of the story, and fill my boat with whatever I like.
I shall take my friend Ashu with me. We shall sail merrily across the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland.
We shall set sail in the early morning light.
When at noontide you are bathing at the pond, we shall be in the land of a strange king.
We shall pass the ford of Tirpurni, and leave behind us the desert of Tepantar.
When we come back it will be getting dark, and I shall tell you of all that we have seen.
I shall cross the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland.
水手
船夫曼特胡的船只停泊在拉琪根琪码头。
这只船无用地装载着黄麻，无所事事地停泊在那里已经好久了。
只要他肯把他的船借给我，我就给它安装一百只桨，扬起五个或六个或七个布帆来。
我决不把它驾驶到愚蠢的市场上去。
我将航行遍仙人世界里的七个大海和十三条河道。
但是，妈妈，你不会躲在角落里为我哭泣。
我不会像罗摩犍陀罗似的，到森林中去，一去十四年才回来。
我将成为故事中的王子，把我的船装满了我所喜欢的东西。
我将带我的朋友阿细和我做伴。我们要快快乐乐地航行于仙人世界里的七个大海和十三条河道。
我将在绝早的晨光里张帆航行。
中午，你正在池塘里洗澡的时候，我们将在一个陌生的国王的国土上了。
我们将经过特浦尼浅滩，把特潘塔沙漠抛落在我们的后边。
当我们回来的时候，天色快黑了，我将告诉你我们所见到的一切。
我将越过仙人世界里的七个大海和十三条河道。
THE FURTHER BANK
I long to go over there to the further bank of the river,
Where those boats are tied to the bamboo poles in a line;
Where men cross over in their boats in the morning with ploughs on their shoulders to till their far-away fields;
Where the cowherds make their lowing cattle swim across to the riverside pasture;
Whence they all come back home in the evening, leaving the jackals to howl in the island overgrown with weeds.
Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferry when I am grown up.
They say there are strange pools hidden behind that high bank,
Where flocks of wild ducks come when the rains are over, and thick reeds grow round the margins where waterbirds lay their eggs;
Where snipes with their dancing tails stamp their tiny footprints upon the clean soft mud;
Where in the evening the tall grasses crested with white flowers invite the moonbeam to float upon their waves.
Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up.
I shall cross and cross back from bank to bank, and all the boys and girls of the village will wonder at me while they are bathing.
When the sun climbs the mid sky and morning wears on to noon, I shall come running to you, saying, “Mother, I am hungry!”
When the day is done and the shadows cower under the trees, I shall come back in the dusk.
I shall never go away from you into the town to work like father.
Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up.
对岸
我渴想到河的对岸去，
在那边，好些船只一行儿系在竹竿上；
人们在早晨乘船渡过那边去，肩上扛着犁头，去耕耘他们的远处的田；
在那边，牧人使他们鸣叫着的牛游泳到河旁的牧场去；
黄昏的时候，他们都回家了，只留下豺狼在这满长着野草的岛上哀叫。
妈妈，如果你不在意，我长大的时候，要做这渡船的船夫。
据说有好些古怪的池塘藏在这个高岸之后。
雨过去了，一群一群的野鹜飞到那里去。茂盛的芦苇在岸边四围生长，水鸟在那里生蛋；
竹鸡带着跳舞的尾巴，将它们细小的足印印在洁净的软泥上；
黄昏的时候，长草顶着白花，邀月光在长草的波浪上浮游。
妈妈，如果你不在意，我长大的时候，要做这渡船的船夫。
我要自此岸至彼岸，渡过来，渡过去，所有村中正在那儿沐浴的男孩女孩，都要诧异地望着我。
太阳升到中天，早晨变为正午了，我将跑到你那里去，说道：“妈妈，我饿了！”
一天完了，影子俯伏在树底下，我便要在黄昏中回家来。
我将永不像爸爸那样，离开你到城里去做事。
妈妈，如果你不在意，我长大的时候，要做这渡船的船夫。