Plath: Fever 103°

Sylvia Plath Collected Poems
No. 188
　　　　Fever 103°

Pure? What does it mean?
The tongues of hell
Are dull, dull as the triple

Tongues of dull, fat Cerberus
Who wheezes at the gate. Incapable
Of licking clean

The aguey tendon, the sin, the sin.
The tinder cries.
The indelible smell

Of a snuffed candle!
Love, love, the low smokes roll
From me like Isadora's scarves, I'm in a fright

One scarf will catch and anchor in the wheel.
Such yellow sullen smokes
Make their own element. They will not rise,

But trundle round the globe
Choking the aged and the meek,
The weak

Hothouse baby in its crib,
The ghastly orchid
Hanging its hanging garden in the air,

Devilish leopard!
Radiation turned it white
And killed it in an hour.

Greasing the bodies of adulterers
Like Hiroshima ash and eating in.
The sin. The sin.

Darling, all night
I have been flickering, off, on, off, on.
The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss.

Three days. Three nights.
Lemon water, chicken
Water, water make me retch.

I am too pure for you or anyone.
Your body
Hurts me as the world hurts God. I am a lantern------

My head a moon
Of Japanese paper, my gold beaten skin
Infinitely delicate and infinitely expensive.

Does not my heat astound you. And my light.
All by myself I am a huge camellia
Glowing and coming and going, flush on flush.

I think I am going up,
I think I may rise------
The beads of hot metal fly, and I, love, I

Am a pure acetylene
Virgin
Attended by roses,

By kisses, by cherubim,
By whatever these pink things mean.
Not you, nor him

Not him, nor him
(My selves dissolving, old whore petticoats)------
To Paradise.
　　　　　　　　　20 October 1962


普拉斯《诗全编》
第188首

　　高烧103°

纯洁？意味什么？
地狱之舌
钝滞，钝滞如钝滞肥硕的

地狱犬塞勃鲁的三重舌，
它守在那门前抽喘。无力
舔净

打摆子的肌腱，罪孽啊，罪孽。
火绒干嚎。
捻灭的蜡烛

散不尽的味道！
爱啊，爱，低走的烟绕起我，
就像伊莎朵拉的围巾，我陷入恐惧，

怕其中一条会缠进车轮、缠死。
如此阴沉的黄烟
制造它们自己的元素。不会升腾，

而是绕着地球滚涌，
呛死衰老的、恭顺的，
将虚弱的

保温箱婴儿呛死在摇篮，
惨白的兰花
在空中悬挂它的悬空花园，

恶魔似的金钱豹！
辐射令它变白，
一个钟头内把它杀掉。

在奸夫淫妇身上涂油，
如广岛的灰烬，并且啃噬。
罪孽啊。罪孽。

亲爱的，整夜里
我一直明灭不定，关，开，关，开。
床单越发沉重犹如色鬼的亲嘴。

整整三天。整整三夜。
柠檬水，鸡肉
汁，汁水令我作呕。

我太纯洁，你不配，谁都不配。
你的身体
伤害我，正如这世界伤害上帝。我是一只灯笼——

头，是用日本纸
做的月亮，皮，是锤薄的金，
精细无比、昂贵无比。

难道我的热度不令你骇怕。还有我的光。
我是一朵巨大的山茶，自在自为，
熠熠生辉，闪烁明灭，红潮迭起。

我想我正离地而去，
我想我会飞升——
炽热的金属珠链飞起，而我，爱啊，我

是纯乙炔的
处女，
被玫瑰守护、

被亲吻、小天使、
以及这些粉色事物意指的一切。
但不是你，不是他，

不是他，也不是他，
（我重重自我在消融，妓女的旧衬裙）——
升向天堂。
　　　　　　　　　　1962年10月20日