venerdì 10 aprile 2009

The Sphinx's Riddle to Oedipus

Not to have guessed is better: what is, ends,
But among fellows, with reluctance,
Clasped by the Woman-Breasted, Lion-Pawed.

To have clasped in one's own arms a mother,
To have killed with one's own hands a father
- Is not this, Lame One, to have been alone?

The seer is doomed for seeing; and to understand
Is to pluck out one's own eyes with one's own hands.
But speak: what has a woman's breasts, a lion's paws?

You stand at midday in the marketplace
Before your life: to see is to have spoken.
- Yet to see, Blind One, is to be alone.

Randall Jarrell

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Hass批评这首诗像是拙劣的舞者一直找寻着舞曲的节奏,但每次都跟不上。

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