[英国]简·麦基《出生顺序》殷晓媛 诵读

简·麦基（Jane McKie）

其出版于2007年的首部诗集《摩洛哥式洛可可》（Cinnamon Press）获得2008年度苏格兰艺术协会“日晷奖”。另有诗集《当太阳变成碧绿》（Polygon,2009）、《老式床架花园》（Mariscat, 2011）（获英国诗歌协会“最佳画册奖”）、《狐》 （2015）及《魔书录：你敢相信吗？》（2016）。

先后毕业于爱丁堡大学、圣大卫三一大学和华威大学，具有心理学、人类学、数学、神话学、神学和文学学术背景。目前任教于爱丁堡大学，教授创意写作。

出生顺序

[英国]简·麦基

殷晓媛 译

一

当她经过时它们纷纷鞠身

就像红海分开——野花和莎草

长得像孩童一样高，纷披着碧绿金黄的长须

它们有蟒蛇般的头颅、带着沉甸甸种子下垂

它们是百草之母，芊芊幽魂之母

月神的面靥是陶土般的灰白，神情疏离

每一株都渴望与这在沟渠旁嬉戏的

娇小女神共舞。她不过小孩高矮

被月光勾勒出仿若人类的轮廓。她太靠近.

水边，离牵船道太远

我将她从芦苇丛中托起，带她回家

仿佛最轻的虚空，躺在我自己的产床上

二

月神最先

将她鲜红的兄弟从母胎中拖曳出来

并不担忧洗礼仪式的裙摆染上鲜血

我端详着，她的手像洁白的玲珑礼器

捧着他的那顶小王冠。她是明锐剔透的

但现在天空中我有另一道光芒可以领航

另一个——需要照料的孩童——是太阳

月神出生伊始就翩翩起舞，是强健的女孩，来不及

告诉我，比起我她是否会更爱她的兄弟

（殷晓媛 译） 

Order of Birth

First

They bow down as she passes

like the sea does – wild flowers and sedges

tall as children, their hair green and gold;

they are python-headed, top-heavy with seeds.

Mother of grasses, mother of slender ghosts,

Luna’s face is clay-white, her expression remote.

They all want to dance with the small goddess

playing beside the canal. No taller than a child,

she looks human in moonlight. She is too close

to the water’s edge, too far from the tow-path.

I lift her out of the reeds and carry her home,

lightest void, to my own maternal bed.

Second

Luna, the first one,

pulled her red brother from the womb

not worried about blood on her christening dress.

I watch her hands, small white instruments,

cupped around his crown. She is luminous,

but now I have a new light in the sky to navigate by,

a second – solar – child to tend.

Luna dances at the birth, strong girl, too soon

to tell if she will love her brother more, or less, than me.