文：董恒秀
阿根廷詩人波赫士曾說「詩是感覺與想像的真實」。因此其訴諸的不是邏輯上的合理性或論理的真實；不在說理、解釋，而是呈現與暗示，一種美而深遠的感覺，活潑想像的騰躍。所以在英詩裡metaphor（隱喻）的運用很重要。
什麼是metaphor？把表面上看似不相干的東西放在一起，爆炸出一種新鮮的意思，藉由這樣的爆炸或交奏，開出所要表現的花朵，那剎那也許是靈魂的睜醒，也許是生命柳暗花明的驚訝，或陽光突破嚴寒的清流，也可以是小小經驗的深刻啟示，與暴風暴雨意義的編織。或只是一種感覺，或精神地獄時刻的又痛苦又清醒。
舉幾個例子讓我們比較具體感受metaphor在詩裡的作用。比如：寂靜爬著石階，時間悄悄如花蕾；「羊啼莢，像小提琴弦掛著，等著微風輕輕撥動」；我散步著月亮，月亮散步著地球。還有英國詩人Byron（拜倫）的名句: “She walks in beauty, like the night”（她走在美裡，如夜）以及Shakespeare的 “Macbeth murders the sleep!”（馬克白謀殺睡眠） Plato也曾說： “I wish I were the night, so that I might watch your sleep with a thousand eyes.”（願我是夜，如此我就能以千隻眼睛注視你的睡眠。）我們很快想到這裡的eyes是stars。
女詩人Emily Dickinson的詩句 “To see the summer Sky is Poetry”（凝望夏空即是詩）與 “Pain has an element of Blank”（痛苦有種空白的元素）還有 “So we must meet apart/ You there- I- here-/ With just the Door ajar/ That oceans are”（我們只能以分離相見－你在那裡－我－在這裡－隔著僅微開的門－那是大海）。另外像是 “marble like solid moonlight,”（大理石像結實的月光） “gold like frozen fire,” （黃金像凝固的火）“Battle is a meeting of anger”（交戰是憤怒的對抗）而Blake 也留下這樣的詩句： “Builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair”（在地獄的絕望裡建造天堂）等等。
Metaphor用得妙，就能讓抽象變得具象，一種習以為常變陌生，讓我們從新驚覺平常的事物。同時詩也不是遙遠不可高攀，它就在生活裡。雖然在這個速食科技掛帥的年代，讀詩、寫詩儼然已快成神話。但人內心深處真的有詩的渴求與湧動。以我自己為例，英文不是我的母語，可是因為常在英詩裡散步，就會偶拾幾首詩的綻開。比如走訪德國的羅騰堡（Rothenburg ob der Tauber）時，她寧靜的夜色，清澈如水，我深深喜愛，忍不住就寫了一首詩：
A soft night in Rothenburg
Shocking was the serenity
Penetrating my eyes
Stunning my heart
When I was first in the castle
Facing the old town quarter above the hill
Embraced by the silver sigh of night breath.
Quiet was the night,
Quieter than thought,
Her tenderness patting upon the coolness of my psalms.
And yonder
As if sprang from my heart,
The Moon blossoming
Like a Lily without the stem
Upheld in the dewy air.
Noiselessly, in crystal darkness
I saw you from the past
Approaching
With tranquil Blueness.
（寧靜驚覺
穿透眼睛
驚默我心
首次來到羅騰堡城堡花園
面對山坡上舊城
被夜晚呼吸的銀色嘆息擁抱著
夜色多寧靜
比思想寧靜
夜色的溫柔輕拍我雙掌的涼
在那邊
月亮抒綻
如從我心湧出
如百合無莖
在露濕的空中
安靜地，在透明的黑暗裡
我看到你從過去
走來
以摯靜的藍）
而與友人信件往返有時也會以詩表達。年初接到一位芬蘭朋友的電子郵件，信裡他提到如
There were mice; they littered feces here and there;
They tried Ilpo's and Katja's patience, even in killing cold winter.
Why didn't these nuisances take their time to ski or skate outside!
Open space is just over there;
There is no traffic jam nor mess crowd.
But mice are mice,
They like place warm and cozy;
And there was no other place they could find
So good as the one they lived and prospered.
Tolerance is a fine thing.
But there is a limit,
Some action must be taken;
So Ilpo went to buy poison.
A feast was going to be held for them,
Even those sentenced to death have a big meal before they die.
That's the way things sometimes are.
And little Valma would not witness the war between men and mice
And the aftermath;
Grandma would keep her company somewhere quiet and pleasant.
When things were done, there should be no more mice to be seen in Ilpo's place.
Solemnly, Ilpo warns those mice who have ears to hear and are still alive:
For your self-interest keep away from my house!
They should keep in mind what they are told and be smart,
Since a mouse without being smart cannot be called a mouse at all.
（這裡有老鼠；他們到處留糞；
考驗著Ilpo與Katja的耐心，就算冬天寒殺。
為何這些討人厭不去滑雪或溜冰！
外面豈不寬闊；
既無車流阻塞也無群眾擾擾。
但是老鼠就是老鼠，
喜歡溫暖舒適；
再找不到
比這裡更適深居繁殖。
容忍是好事。
但有個限度，
總要採取行動；
所以Ilpo去買毒藥。
為他們開個慶晏，
即如那些死刑犯臨刑前總有個大餐。
這就是事物的道理。
小Valma看不到人鼠之間的戰爭
與結果；
祖母陪她在別的悠閒地方。
事情做好了Ilpo的住處就該無鼠患。
Ilpo鄭重警告那些有耳有腳的鼠輩：
好歹命趕快跑！
謹記在心學聰明點，
因為不聰明老鼠就不叫老鼠。）
註：照片由芬蘭建築師Ilpo Vuorela拍攝。
（文章僅代表作者觀點，不代表Newtalk新聞立場。）
