Have just been thinking that this time last week I was in your arms or you in mine. The world do wag on and its waggery decreases my joys instead of increasing them. Ah, that last night with my arm about your waist! You haven't forgotten it either, I know. Dear One, we have at least glorious memories of our past together which augur well for the future. It has been sweet, so sweet to me; sweet with the flavor of your adorable personality, My Own. We have a future together, I am sure, that will more than compensate for the Present's sins of omission. And yet, and yet. My God, it is so hard to wait! I try to bear it with some show of equanimity, to call a patient philosophy to my aid, but it's no use. I want you! I want you! I want you! Bee dear, my own Bee dear, I love you so, so much! Little wife, little wife, I adore you!
But now, alas, when I need you so much you are worlds away from me and
"I am a prince of thwarted ecstasy
Of unassuaged desire."
But a week from tonight. Delirious thought!
Gene
Tuesday Night, October 6,1914
我的宝贝:
我再一次回到了老地方,觉得比以前更孤单和伤感。我不得不离开你,这真令人难以忍受。我真诚地向上帝祈祷,愿不久以后人们不再受相思之苦的煎熬,生活不再如此可怕,充满痛苦。啊,我的宝贝,我的宝贝,我是多么爱你啊!我们分开时,那无情的时光拖着沉重的步伐,是多么难熬啊!
我回想起昨天晚上那充满魅力的你。然后,从无比孤独的内心深处发出呻吟,传达了我巨大的愿望:“唉!让我们,让我们只拥有昨天吧!”
对我来说,生活已经成为幻影,只剩下两种真实:你,以及我对你的爱。其他的一切都是虚幻的、模糊的阴影,它们是毫无意义、徒劳的烦恼。我的存在只在你身上体现,只有当我从你的眼里看到自己的形象时,我才能容忍自己。在你那双灰色的、像一泓秋水的眼眸里,这位纳西索斯看见了他自己,自我欣赏,并且为自己出现在那里而感到自豪。
“特帕雷里是如此遥远”,我的生日离现在似乎还有千千万万个年头。那时,我将再次感受你那温柔而热烈的双唇,我可以用我那无望的呼声震撼天地,面对命运愤怒地咬碎钢牙(取决于你),但这有什么用呢?时间过得如此之慢。让我再一次拥抱你吧,啊,亲爱的!啊,你是天底下最可爱的女人。深深地吻你!晚安。
1914年10月6日,星期二,晚
今天辛苦了一天。早上,贝克把他让我们改编的故事还给了我们。他要求我们写一个剧本提纲,而且必须在动手写剧本之前将提纲交给他。我立即着手,已经写了大约1000字。贝克在我的写作中插入如此多的“不要”,因此写起来相当困难——至少对于提纲来说是如此。他指责有些小说的出版是为了商业目的,我认为,在某些情况下,他的指责是有失公允的。我给了他一本我的书,他说他会十分高兴地看一遍。还有一个和我一起学习的同伴问我哪里可以买到我的书,我想他大概想了解我是一个什么档次的戏剧家。但是,不用说,我感到有些不安。
傍晚时分去游泳了。我所去的那个基督教青年会游泳池比大学里的游泳池好,人也不是很多。我打算整个冬天都坚持游泳,这肯定能让我恢复以前的活力。
我计划明天下午去体育馆观看盛演不衰的哈佛戏剧《华盛顿与杰弗逊》。这应该是个好节目。
刚才一直在思念上个星期我们偎依在一起的时光。这个世界就像个小丑,它滑稽的表演不断地减少而非增加我的快乐。在那之前的一个晚上,我紧紧搂着你的腰!我知道你也没有忘记这些!亲爱的人,我们至少共同拥有过去愉快的记忆,这也预示了美好的未来。回忆总是甜蜜的,非常甜蜜,甜蜜中弥漫着你那可爱的个性,我的宝贝。我们肯定拥有共同的未来,这些足以弥补现在上帝疏忽的过失。但是,但是,主啊,等待是多么艰难啊!我试着镇定地对待这件事,还希望用忍耐哲学来助我一臂之力,但这些都没有用。我需要你!我需要你!我需要你!亲爱的小蜜蜂,我亲爱的小蜜蜂,我是多么多么爱你啊!小爱人,我的小爱人,我是多么爱慕你啊!
然而现在,唉,在我这么需要你的时候,你却在一个远离我的世界——
“我是一名王子,
我的喜悦被压抑着,
欲望也得不到满足。”
从今晚开始还有一周——令人发狂的想念!
吉恩
1914年10月9日,星期五
moan [mn] v. 呻吟;抱怨;呼啸;发出萧萧声
The earth seemed to moan at the terrible blow.
大地因为遭受到可怖的打击而发出一声叹息。
inject [indekt] v. (给……)注射(药物等);增加(某品质)
We hope to inject new life into our business.
我们希望使我们的业务工作充满朝气。
wag [w鎉 n. 老开玩笑的人;爱闹着玩的人;摇摆
He's a bit of a wag.
他爱开点玩笑。
compensate [kmpenseit] v. 补偿;弥补;给(某人)赔偿(或赔款)
We will compensate for the loss.
我们会补偿损失。
对我来说,生活已经成为幻影,只剩下两种真实:你,以及我对你的爱。
这个世界就像个小丑,它滑稽的表演不断地减少而非增加我的快乐。
然而现在,唉,在我这么需要你的时候,你却在一个远离我的世界。
I exist as I am reflected in you.
be reflected in:反映
The world do wag on and its waggery decreases my joys instead of increasing them.
instead of:代替;作为……的替换
约翰·默里致卡瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德
John Murry to Katherine Mansfield
约翰·默里(1889—1957),英国新闻记者、评论家、编辑。他曾就读于基督慈善学院及牛津大学,1918年与英国女作家曼斯菲尔德结婚。1923年妻子病故后,他发表了《曼斯菲尔德的一生》、《曼斯菲尔德及其他文学传记》等一系列关于她的著作。默里写了40余部书和大批新闻作品,这些作品贯穿了他对社会、政治和宗教等一系列问题的明确观点。
My precious,
Your Sunday (Feb 3) letter came this morning. Somehow it told me more nearly what you felt, and how you were, than any letter you have written me. Perhaps that was because I feel exactly the things you feel. I too have two motives for writing: happiness and a despairing "cry against corruption" . The absolute exactness of identity between this last and my own motives struck me profoundly, rather as though I had been on the point of crying out, and you had cried instead, the miraculous, unearthly feeling of complete communion.
And I don't need to tell you that I fear the war: it is like a plague, or some great monster waiting. Alone, I feel helpless, (at best) fatalistic. when we are together I feel that we have such virtue in us that we shall, somehow, be able to withstand it. But being apart it's no good, no good at all.
I wish I knew something definite, whether you will be able to manage to persuade the Consulate. I feel that you will, but until I really know, I shall be anxious still.
I don't know what to say, my Wig. I'm not depressed, I'm not happy. I seem to be in a sort of limbo where everything is half-and-half; quite obviously, there is only half of me here. I was quite calm and deliberate and sober when I said, the other day, that my soul had left me to nestle with you. It seems to be such a simple matter of fact.
I think it is a very good thing that I am working hard. I mistrust myself when I am left alone and writing articles eases the strain. Without it I should be rushing from deep depression to a sort of hysterical nonchalance, and that would perhaps break something.
But how glad, unutterably glad, I am that you are coming back. The sweetest part of my life now is when I think of us sitting together in the kitchen eating, of us lying together in each others arms, with your head on my shoulder. I dare not think.
Boge.
February, 1918
我的宝贝:
今天上午收到了你星期天(2月3日)的来信。跟你以前的来信相比,这封信在某种程度上更进一步地告诉了我你的大致感受和近况,这可能是因为我跟你的感觉完全一样。我也有两个写作动机:写作的快乐与绝望的“反对堕落的呼声”。我们之间绝对一致的写作动机深深地打动了我,确切地说,我好像就要高声叫喊起来一样,事实上,你已经喊出来了——那种彻底地交流所激发的不可思议的、神秘的感觉。
而且,我不需要告诉你我也害怕战争:它如同一场瘟疫,或者像某种巨大的怪物在等着你。我因为孤独而感到无助,(说得好听点)感到宿命的压迫。当我们在一起的时候,我觉得我们共同拥有某种美德,所以我们在某种程度上能够经受它。但是,分开却没有益处,一点也没有。
我希望明确地知道,你是否能设法说服领事馆。我想你一定可以,但是,我仍然非常焦虑,除非我真正知道了结果。
我不知道该说什么好,亲爱的维格。我没有沮丧,但也不快乐。我似乎处于地狱的边缘,那里一切都模糊不清,但明显的是,这里仅仅只有“一半的我”。在我说“我的灵魂已经离我而去、偎依在你身旁”的时候,我是镇定的、从容不迫的,这看起来是如此简单的一个事实。
我想,现在努力工作是一件非常好的事情。我在孤独的时候,就非常缺乏自信,只能通过写文章来缓解紧张情绪。没有它的话,我那深深的沮丧将会爆发出来,我将变成一个对什么都异常冷淡的人,这很可能会带来某种破坏。