Plath: The Rabbit Catcher

Sylvia Plath Collected Poems
No. 164

　　　The Rabbit Catcher

It was a place of force—
The wind gagging my mouth with my own blown hair,
Tearing off my voice, and the sea
Blinding me with its lights, the lives of the dead
Unreeling in it, spreading like oil.

I tasted the malignity of the gorse,
Its black spikes,
The extreme unction of its yellow candle-flowers.
They had an efficiency, a great beauty,
And were extravagant, like torture.

There was only one place to get to.
Simmering, perfumed,
The paths narrowed into the hollow.
And the snares almost effaced themselves--
Zeros, shutting on nothing,

Set close, like birth pangs.
The absence of shrieks
Made a hole in the hot day, a vacancy.
The glassy light was a clear wall,
The thickets quiet.

I felt a still busyness, an intent.
I felt hands round a tea mug, dull, blunt,
Ringing the white china.
How they awaited him, those little deaths!
They waited like sweethearts. They excited him.

And we, too, had a relationship--
Tight wires between us,
Pegs too deep to uproot, and a mind like a ring
Sliding shut on some quick thing,
The constriction killing me also.
　　　　　　　　　　　21 May 1962


普拉斯《诗全编》
第164首

　　　捕兔器

它是力量之所在——
风，以我飘乱的头发，堵我的嘴，
撕开我的声音，而大海
用它的光击瞎了我，死者的生命
在海中卷开，铺展，像油一样。

我尝过荆豆的恶毒，
它的黑色荚果，
那黄色蜡烛花给临死者涂抹的油。
它们有一种效率，一种雄伟的美，
并且铺张恣纵，就像折磨。

只有一个地方可去。
文火煨，加了香料，
小径都变窄，进了那个窟窿。
诱捕器几乎都隐去了面目——
所有的零，关闭着虚空，

缩紧，如分娩的阵痛。
尖叫的缺失
在大热天制造一个窟窿，一个空档。
玻璃似的光，是一堵清澈的墙，
灌木沉静。

我感到一种凝滞的忙碌，一个意图。
我感到双手捧着茶缸，迟钝而生硬，
围握着这白瓷。
而它们等啊，等着他，那些小小的死！
它们像情人一样等他。令他兴奋。

而我们，我们也有一层关系——
绷紧的线牵着我们，
木栓插得很深，难以拔起，还有一种指环似的心思，
滑落，套紧在某个极快的东西上，
那一紧缩也杀死了我。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　1962年5月21日