William Stanley (W.S.) Merwin?(1927 - present)?was born on September 30, 1927 in New York City and grew up in Union City, New Jersey, and Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was graduated from Princeton University and worked as a tutor in Europe and translator.? From 1956 to 1957 Merwin was also playwright-in-residence at the Poet's Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts and poetry editor at The Nation in 1962. Besides being a prolific poet (he has published over fifteen volumes of his works) he is also a respected translator of Spanish, French, and Latin poetry, including Dante's Purgatorio. ?In 1998 Merwin wrote Folding Cliffs: A Narrative, an ambitious novel-in-verse about Hawaiian history and legend. (Source from:www.newyorker.com)
Letter to Su Tung P'o
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? W.S Merwin
Almost a thousand years later
I am asking the same questions
you did the ones you kept finding
yourself returning to as though
nothing had changed except the tone
of their echo growing deeper
and what you knew of the coming
of age before you had grown old
I do not know any more now
than you did then about what you
were asking as I sit at night
above the hushed valley thinking
of you on your river that one
bright sheet of moonlight in the dream
of the waterbirds and I hear
the silence after your questions
how old are the questions tonight
譯文：
致蘇東坡的一封信
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 【美】W.S.默溫
差不多一千年以后
我問(wèn)著這同樣的問(wèn)題
你曾經(jīng)問(wèn)過(guò)并始終找尋
自己回返的那些仿佛
什么都沒(méi)變化除去他們
回聲的音調(diào)越發(fā)深沉?
而你知道的是歲月的來(lái)臨
在你面前已顯得陳舊
此刻的我所知道
不比那時(shí)候你所?
疑問(wèn)的更多當(dāng)我坐在夜晚
岑寂的山谷之上想著?
你在你的河上而那一
紙水鳥(niǎo)夢(mèng)中明亮的月光
并且我還聽(tīng)見(jiàn)你? ? ?
那問(wèn)題之后的沉默
在今夜這些問(wèn)題顯得多么古老
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2015.1.8? 蘇東坡生辰
選自詩(shī)人詩(shī)集《天狼星的陰影》（The Shadow of Sirius, 2009）
To the New Year
??????????????????????????????????????W. S. Merwin
With what stillness at last? ?
you appear in the valley? ? ? ?
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few? ? ? ? ? ?
high leaves that do not stir? ? ? ? ?
as though they had not noticed? ?
and did not know you at all? ? ? ? ?
then the voice of a dove calls? ? ? ?
from far away in itself? ? ? ? ? ?
to the hush of the morning? ? ? ? ? ?
so this is the sound of you? ? ? ? ?
here and now whether or not? ? ?
anyone hears it this is? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
where we have come with our age?
our knowledge such as it is? ? ? ? ? ?
and our hopes such as they are? ? ?
invisible before us? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
untouched and still possible? ? ?
譯文：
致新年
???????????????????????????????W. S. 默溫
在最終如許的沉靜中
你在山谷里出現(xiàn)?
你的第一縷陽(yáng)光抵落
觸碰到一些高高的
沒(méi)有被攪擾的葉梢
仿佛它們沒(méi)有留意到
也根本不認(rèn)識(shí)你
而后一只鴿子的嗓音
從遠(yuǎn)處自發(fā)地
叫醒早晨的噓靜
所以這就是你的聲音
此時(shí)此地?zé)o論是否
有任何人聽(tīng)到巍杈，這就是
跟隨我們年華而增添的
識(shí)見(jiàn)毙替， 波瀾不驚
我們的希望也如己所待
隱秘于我們面前
無(wú)法觸及昔善，卻依舊可能
選自詩(shī)人詩(shī)集《羅盤(pán)花》（The Compass Flower,1977）
? ? It is at the first day of this year that I first time saw the second poem. At that moment, a kind of magic feeling came into my mind. I thought: ?So many people come and go inour lives and none of them stop for us and none of us will stop for them, although we may have a wish to be together with someone forever. Perhaps the nature of life is quietness.?All of us are travellers of the world. We are destined to experience the life path different from others, so we are all alone. Hope you can keep inner peace no matter what happen on you; hope you have the courage to face difficults that life brings to you; hope you have the shinning smile on your face during this life journey of exploration. Most importantly, wish you can discover the beaty of siolitude and can enjoy it heart and soul.?
? ? In the further, I will keep reading poems of W.S Merwin.
Wish you all dream big, be brave and stay true :)
