東城樂府（旗艦店） 「我會寫一輩子，」吳東晟說：「這裡是東城樂府旗鑑店，分店在http://city.udn.com/v1/blog/index.jsp?uid=wdc2015。」

929愛的鼓勵 2訂閱站台

Wu Tung-cheng吳東晟

CRAPPY WATCH

爛錶

translated by David van der Peet范德培

 

Acquired you for a hundred Taiwan dollars to help me keep time

Thinking you’d accompany me through middle age

Who would’ve thought that you’d start to dawdle after just a few months

Leading me to believe that I still got five-six-seven minutes before I have to leave

 

So I reset your time:

At the tone, the time will be 11 hours, 5 minutes and 20 seconds

Beep! And you are on time again

But deep down inside you’re still lazy

 

You provide a standard, yet you’re not truly trustworthy

You lead those who believe into a state of constant doubt

Fortunately, there’s also a different reckoning of time

That follows the course of the sun and the moon and the stars

 

There has to be a giant dark being behind you

That controls both sleep and waking

I’m willing to frequently adjust the time, and wait

Wait for you to get back into your normal groove

 

 

爛錶

 

吳東晟

 

 

一百元僱你幫我顧著時間

以為你將伴我度過整個中年

誰知不幾月你便偷懶

告訴我離出門還有五分鐘六分鐘七分鐘

 

重新校正你的時間

下面音響，十一點五分二十秒

嗶！一瞬間你重新振作

但骨子裡依然是懶惰

 

你是標準，卻不可信任

你讓相信你的人習慣疑問

所幸我們還有另一套時間

依著月亮太陽，依著上天

 

你的背後必有一個黑暗的巨靈

掌握著睡眠，也掌握著清醒

我願時時校正時間，等候你

等候你找回正常的作息

 

 

 

 

--

原作刊登於《創世紀詩雜誌》第156期2008秋季號

譯作刊登於《當代台灣文學英譯》第151期2010春季號