Sylvia Plath: Kindness

Sylvia Plath Collected Poems
No. 220

　　　Kindness

Kindness glides about my house.
Dame Kindness, she is so nice!
The blue and red jewels of her rings smoke
In the windows, the mirrors
Are filling with smiles.

What is so real as the cry of a child?
A rabbit's cry may be wilder
But it has no soul.
Sugar can cure everything, so Kindness says.
Sugar is a necessary fluid,

Its crystals a little poultice.
O kindness, kindness
Sweetly picking up pieces!
My Japanese silks, desperate butterflies,
May be pinned any minute, anesthetized.

And here you come, with a cup of tea
Wreathed in steam.
The blood jet is poetry,
There is no stopping it.
You hand me two children, two roses.
　　　　　　　　1 February 1963

第220首
　　　善意

善意在我家掠来掠去。
善夫人，她如此和蔼！
她戒指的蓝宝石、红宝石
在窗子里冒烟，镜子
都布满着笑意。

有什么会像孩子的哭声这么真实？
野兔的叫声也许更狂
但它没有灵魂。
糖是百病灵丹，善意这么说。
这种液体非常必要，

它的结晶是一点点药膏。
啊，善行啊，善行
好心地掇拾着碎片！
我的日本绸衣，绝路的蝴蝶，
随时都会被钉住、麻醉。

而你就这样来了，端着清茶一杯
热气袅娜升腾。
血喷射成诗，
无法令它停止。
你交给我两个孩子、两朵玫瑰。
　　　　　　　　1963年2月1日