PAR 表演藝術雜誌

二○一六年十一月十一日，李歐納．柯恩（Leonard Cohen）的Facebook主頁貼上了他的訃聞：「懷著深切的哀傷，我們宣告傳說中的詩人、歌曲創作者及藝術家李歐納．柯恩已然辭世。我們失去了音樂中一位最受崇敬及最富於創造力的夢想家。」（It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away. We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries.）文中沒有任何詳細的訊息，卻帶給各界極大震撼。

但死亡的信息也許秘密地埋在某個轉角。就在柯恩離開的三個星期前，他的最後一張專輯You want it darker才剛剛出版。曲中壓抑的旋律彷彿他的遺囑，喃喃地說著故事，自顧自地揮手道別。或者，他早已知道路已不遠，因此在接受《紐約客》雜誌專訪時透露「做好了死亡的準備」，還說「我希望，死亡不至於太痛苦。」

只不過，這種灰暗的氣氛，似乎從來就與他脫不了關係。他愛一身黑，黑西裝、黑高領，就連菸不離手、喝大量的咖啡，也都是黑的。他很少笑，即使笑了，也像是在自嘲。他自憐、奮世、犬儒，緊閉的雙唇邊兩道深深的、有如刀刻一樣的法令紋，試圖隱藏他的陰鬱。唯有他深不見底的雙眼，透露出豐沛的情感。

多年的音樂生涯，柯恩用隱晦的語言留下宗教、詩歌、憂鬱、自殺、政治和戰爭主題的詩歌。然而他並非是一個多產的作者，即使歌曲為人稱道，也只錄了十幾張專輯。但他的音樂是那麼真誠，甚至背後帶有一段難以忘懷的感情；而文字、節奏、旋律、意境都保有詩一般的美麗與雋永，深深影響著後進的墨人騷客。

要說他是歌手、詞曲創作者、詩人、小說家……毋寧說，柯恩就是柯恩，一個總在深思的老靈魂、一個總在愛戀的孤獨男聲，低沉地唱著歌，或其實在吟詩，看似平淡，卻縈繞心頭。

《渴望之書》詩集精選

THE BOOK OF LONGING

I can’t make the hills

The system is shot

I’m living on pills

For which I thank G-d

 

I followed the course

From chaos to art

Desire the horse

Depression the cart

 

I sailed like a swan

I sank like a rock

But time is long gone

Past my laughing stock

 

My page was too white

My ink was too thin

The day wouldn’t write

What the night pencilled in

 

My animal howls

My angel’s upset

But I’m not allowed

A trace of regret

 

For someone will use

What I couldn’t be

My heart will be hers

Impersonally

 

She’ll step on the path

She’ll see what I mean

My will cut in half

And freedom between

 

For less than a second

Our lives will collide

The endless suspended

The door open wide

 

Then she will be born

To someone like you

What no one has done

She’ll continue to do

 

I know she is coming

I know she will look

And that is the longing

And this is the book

〈渴望之書〉

翻譯  尉遲秀

我無能登上山丘

身體傾毀

我倚靠藥丸生活

因此我感謝上帝

 

我沿路前行

從混沌到藝術

慾望是馬

沮喪是車

 

我航巡如天鵝

我沉落如石塊

可時光悠悠

越過我存積的笑柄逝去

 

我的紙太白

我的墨太輕

白晝不願寫下

黑夜鉛筆的字句

 

我的野獸在嘶嗥

我的天使亂了心

可我不被允許

留下後悔的痕跡

 

因為有人將擷取

我無能成為的自己

我的心將屬於她

此事已注定

 

她將步上那小徑

她將明白我說的

我的意志對切

自由夾在中間

 

再過不到一秒

我們的生命就要撞上

無盡成懸念

門大開

 

這時她將誕生

為了某個神似的你

沒人做過的事

她將繼續

 

我知道她要來了

我知道她會看

那就是渴望

這就是書

******************************************************************

MOVING INTO A PERIOD OVING INTO A PERIOD

 

We are moving into a period of bewilderment, a curious moment

in which people find light in the midst of despair, and vertigo at the

summit of their hopes. It is a religious moment also, and here is the

danger. People will want to obey the voice of Authority, and many

strange constructs of just what Authority is will arise in every mind.

The family will appear again as the Foundation, much honoured, much

praised, but those of us who have been pierced by other possibilities,

we will merely go through the motions, albeit the motions of love. The

public yearning for Order will invite many stubborn uncompromising

persons to impose it. The sadness of the zoo will fall upon society.

 

You and I, who yearn for blameless intimacy, we will be unwilling to

speak even the first words of inquisitive delight, for fear of reprisals.

Everything desperate will live behind a joke. But I swear that I will

stand within the range of your perfume.

 

How severe seems the moon tonight, like the face of an Iron Maiden,

instead of the usual indistinct idiot.

 

If you think Freud is dishonoured now, and Einstein, and Hemingway,

just wait and see what is to be done with all that white hair, by those

who come after me.

 

But there will be a Cross, a sign, that some will understand; a secret

meeting, a warning, a Jerusalem hidden in Jerusalem. I will be wearing

white clothes, as usual, and I will enter The Innermost Place as I have

done generation upon generation, to entreat, to plead, to justify. I will

enter the chamber of the Bride and the Bridegroom, and no one

will follow me.

 

Have no doubt, in the near future we will be seeing and hearing

much more of this sort of thing from people like myself.

進入一個時代

翻譯  林蔚昀

我們正進入一個混亂的時代，一個奇異的時刻——人們在絕望谷底找到光，在希望高峰暈眩。它也是一個宗教的時刻，這正是危險之處。人們將會希望聽從權威，許多奇怪的關於權威的理論，將會出現在每一個人心中。家庭將重新成為基石，更受尊敬，更受崇拜，但是我們之中那些被其他的可能穿刺的人，只會穿過這些潮流，即使是愛的潮流。渴望秩序的大眾會邀請許多固執、毫不妥協的人去強化它。動物園的憂鬱將降臨社會。

你和我，渴望無罪的親密，我們將會在第一個好奇的字面前膽怯，害怕可能的報復。所有的絕望都會存活在玩笑的背後。但我發誓，我會站在你的香水範圍之內。

今晚的月亮看起來多麼殘忍，像鐵處女的面孔，而非平常那個模糊的白癡。

如果你認為佛洛依德已被玷辱，還有愛因斯坦和海明威也是，你等著瞧吧，看些在我之後來的人，會對那些白頭髮做些什麼。

但是會有十字，一個徵兆，有些人會瞭解：一個秘密集會，一個警告，一個藏在耶路薩冷裡的耶路薩冷。我會穿白衣，向平時一樣，我會進入「最深的內部」，像我在每一個世代所做的，懇請，祈求，辯護。我會進入新郎新娘的洞房，沒有人會跟隨我。

不要懷疑，在不久的將來我們會看見、聽見更多這樣的話，來自那些和我一樣的人。

******************************************************************

YOU HAVE LOVED ENOUGH OU HAVE LOVED ENOUGH

 

I said I’d be your lover.

You laughed at what I said.

I lost my job forever.

I was counted with the dead.

 

I swept the marble chambers,

But you sent me down below.

You kept me from believing

Until you let me know:

 

That I am not the one who loves –

It’s love that seizes me.

When hatred with his package comes,

You forbid delivery.

 

And when the hunger for your touch

Rises from the hunger,

You whisper, “You have loved enough,

Now let me be the Lover.”

你已經愛夠了

翻譯  尉遲秀

我說要當愛你的人。

你嘲笑我的話語。

我永遠失去工作。

他們當我已經死去。

 

我威風凜凜走進房間，

你卻讓我墮入深淵。

你不願讓我相信，

最後卻讓我明白：

 

我不是愛人的那個——

是愛情抓住我的心。

當恨意帶著它的包裹前來，

你禁止我投遞。

 

渴望你的撫觸，我的飢餓

從飢餓升起，

你卻低語，「你已經愛夠了，

現在換我當愛你的人。」

******************************************************************

THING

 

I am this thing that needs to sing

I love to sing

to my beloved’s other thing

and to my own dear sweet G-d

I love to sing to Him and her

and to my baby’s lower fur

which is so holy

that I want to crawl on my knees

off a high cliff

and sail around singing

in the wind

which is so friendly

to my feathery spirit

I am this thing

that wants to sing

when I am up against the spit

and scorn of judges

O G-D I want to sing

I Am

THIS THING THAT NEEDS TO SING

俗物

翻譯  張世倫

我是這樣一個必須吟唱的俗物

我熱愛放聲歌頌

我摯愛的其他俗物

與我親愛的老天爺

我熱愛歌詠祂和她

以及我寶貝低私處

那無比神聖的毛髮

讓我想用膝蓋匍匐

爬行至高峰峭壁

四處漂泊

隨風吟唱

如此契合

我那鳥羽般的輕盈本性

我是這樣一個

想要吟唱的俗物

當我面對世俗咒罵

與律令判準的輕蔑不屑

喔  老天爺  我要吟唱