文/谢默斯·奥凯利 译/刘仲良 审订/任东升

Mary had spent many days gathering wool from the whins on the headland2headland 原义为“岬角”，这里可以理解成“草地边上”，上面垒着灰石头（whins）。.They were the bits of wool shed by the sheep before the shearing.When she had got a fleece that fitted the basket she took it down to the canal and washed it.When she had done washing it was a soft, white, silky fleece.She put it back in the brown sally basket, pressing it down with her long, delicate fingers.She had risen to go away, holding the basket against her waist, when her eyes followed the narrow neck of water that wound through the bog.

好几天来，玛丽都在草地边上的灰石头堆里捡羊毛，那全是些未剪前掉落的小毛球。拾满篮子，她便提到运河边浣洗。洗毕，羊毛变得柔软洁白，光亮丝滑。她把洗好的羊毛装回棕色的柳条篮子里，用修长的手指压实后，便直起身，打算离去。她拎上篮子挎在腰间，目光顺着狭长的河渠望向远处。这河渠蜿蜒曲折，穿过了泥炭地。

2天色将暮，日光渐暗，渠中河水泛黄，远处已看不清楚。艾伦沼泽向四周平平地延伸开来，雾似轻纱，笼罩在这片沼泽上。朦朦胧胧中，狭窄的河渠里，一艘小舟若隐若现。起初，玛丽瞧着那船还在老远开外，好似自云中而来。霞光万丈，柔和地照耀在小船上，给船镀上了一层暗金色。暮色中，一匹马拉着船缓缓而来，像传说中的金舟。一头棕发的玛丽微微侧过头，看着船徐徐前行。马很有耐心，不慌不忙，步子坚实有力，头跟着步伐上下摆动。泥炭地里，一只白鹤飞了起来，脖子伸得很长，悠闲地挥动翅膀，飞过了船艄在河中留下的尾纹，消失在薄雾中。

2She could not follow the neck of yellow water very far.The light of day was failing.A haze hung over the great Bog of Allen3艾伦沼泽，位于利菲（Liffey）河和香农（Shannon）河之间，面积约958 平方公里，大规模开采泥炭以供电厂作燃料，挖掘泥炭后的土地用来放牧。that spread out level on all sides of her.The boat loomed out of the haze on the narrow neck of the canal water.It looked, at first, a long way off, and it seemed to come in a cloud.The soft rose light that mounted the sky caught the boat and burnished it like dull gold.It came leisurely, drawn by the one horse looking like a Golden Barque in the twilight.Mary put her brown head a little to one side as she watched the easy motion of the boat.The horse drew himself along deliberately, the patient head going up and down with every heavy step.A crane rose from the bog, flapping two lazy wings across the wake of the boat,and reaching its long neck before it, got lost in the haze.

3The figure that swayed by the big arm of the tiller on The Golden Barque was vague and shapeless at first, but Mary felt her eyes following the slow movements of the body.Mary thought it was very beautiful to sway every now and then by the arm of the tiller, steering a Golden Barque through the twilight.

3起初，金舟长长的舵柄旁，有个身影起伏摇摆，隐隐约约，若有若无，但玛丽察觉到自己的目光跟随那个身影缓慢的动作移动着。她心想，暮色初上，驾驶金舟，站在舵柄旁随波荡漾，荡来荡去，真是美妙极了。

4Then she realised suddenly that the boat was much nearer than she had thought.She could see the figures of the men plainly, especially the slim figure by the tiller.She could trace the rope that slackened and stretched taut as it reached from the boat to the horse.Once it splashed the water, and there was a little spout of silver.She noted the whip looped under the arm of the driver.Presently she could count every heavy step of the horse, and was struck by the great size of the shaggy fetlocks.But always her eyes went back to the figure by the tiller.

4蓦地，回过神来，玛丽才惊觉船其实离自己很近。船员的身形依稀可辨，舵柄旁修长的身材尤其突出。她的眼睛顺着纤绳，从船头延伸到马身上。纤绳时而松，时而紧，偶尔落入水中，溅起一团银色的水花。她看到马鞭子绕成圈，夹在马夫腋下。没多久，马哒哒的步子都能数清楚了。玛丽看到马蹄子上的毛浓密蓬乱，着实有点受惊。即便如此，她的目光还是落在那个掌舵人身上。

5玛丽后退几步，看着金舟驶过。它来自奇异的远方，穿过沼泽地，向另一个不可知的世界驶去。船头坐着一个红脸人，睡眼惺忪。玛丽笑着向他点头，可他并没有理会。他没看见，也许是睡着了。走在马旁边的马夫低头看着地面，经过玛丽时也没有抬头。玛丽看到那人嘴唇在动，听到嘴里嘀咕，或许是在祈祷。他身材矮小，佝偻驼背，一步一步地跟着马，在沼泽上前行。不过玛丽隐约感到舵边那个男子正注视自己，便抬起头来。

5She moved back a little way to see The Golden Barque pass.It came from a strange, far-off world, and having traversed the bog went away into another unknown world.A red-faced man was sitting drowsily on the prow.Mary smiled and nodded to him, but he made no sign.He did not see her; perhaps he was asleep.The driver who walked beside the horse had his head stooped and his eyes on the ground.He did not look up as he passed.Mary saw his lips moving, and heard him mutter to himself; perhaps he was praying.He was a shrunken, misshaped little figure and kept step with the brute in the journey over the bog.But Mary felt the gaze of the man by the tiller upon her.She raised her eyes.

6光线模糊，帽檐的影子映在他脸上，看不清脸的样子。但能感觉到他身材刚健，活力四射。玛丽抬头的瞬间，他笑了笑，隐约露出白白的牙齿。船从身旁驶过，玛丽并未回以微笑，只是退后一步，静静地站着。那人曾一度回头，不好意思地扶了扶帽子，可玛丽没做任何回应。

6The light was uncertain and his peaked cap threw a shadow4throw a shadow 原义为“投下阴影”，这里表示帽檐遮住了光线，看不清脸。over his face.But the figure was lithe and youthful.He smiled as she looked up, for she caught a gleam of his teeth.Then the boat had passed.Mary did not smile in return.She had taken a step back and remained there quietly.Once he looked back and awkwardly touched his cap,but she made no sign.

7船驶过很远了，玛丽便在岸上坐下来，将羊毛篮子放在身旁，望着金舟缓缓而去，消失在茫茫暮色之中。沼泽一片寂静，她独坐良久，思绪飘荡，久久不能回归。终于，她起身了，底下的运河清冷冰凉。放眼望去，新月朦胧，孤挂天际，映在水中。

7When the boat had gone by some way she sat down on the bank, her basket of wool beside her, looking at The Golden Barque until it went into the gloom.She stayed there for some time,thinking long in the great silence of the bog.When at last she rose, the canal was clear5这里clear 既指水面如镜，又指河上已经没有船。and cold beneath her.She looked into it.A pale new moon was shining down in the water.

8玛丽经常倚在草地边的小屋门前，观望过往船只。它们像黑色的蜗牛，在沼泽间狭窄的河渠里爬行。此刻，不全是蜗牛了，其中就有一条是金舟。无论何时，只要看到金舟，她总会露出微笑，眼睛盯着舵柄旁站着的那个身影。

8Mary often stood at the door of the cabin on the headland watching the boats that crawled like black snails over the narrow streak of water through the bog.But they were not all like black snails now.There was a Golden Barque among them.Whenever she saw it she smiled, her eyes on the figure that stood by the shaft of the tiller.

9One evening she was walking by the canal when The Golden Barque passed.The light was very clear and searching.It showed every plank, battered and tarstained, on the rough hulk, but for all that it lost none of its magic for Mary.The little shrunken driver, head down,the lips moving, walking beside the horse.She heard his low mutters as he passed.The red-faced man was stooping over the side of the boat, swinging out a vessel tied to a rope, to haul up some water.He was singing a ballad in a monotonous voice.A tall, dark, spare man was standing by the funnel, looking vacantly ahead.Then Mary’s eyes travelled to the tiller.

9一天傍晚，金舟经过时，她正走在河渠边。此时光线很亮，一切尽收眼中。船身陈旧，上面的条板破烂不堪，沾满了柏油污渍。即便如此，玛丽依然认为它魔力十足。那瘦小的马夫低头走在马旁，嘴唇不停在动。经过玛丽时，她听到了低低的喃喃声。红脸的家伙弯腰趴在船边，用吊桶在渠里打水，嘴里唱着山歌，声音单调极了。一个高大黝黑的瘦子站在烟囱旁，茫然地望着远方。最后，玛丽的眼睛移到了舵手身上。

10看到那张脸，玛丽羞涩中不由后退了几步，退到一株山楂树下。山楂树孤零零地长在河渠旁的堤坝上，鲜花正盛，经她这一碰，白色的花瓣从空中洒落，落得她身边到处都是，有些挂在发丝上，宛若花环。男子举起帽子微微一笑。玛丽没想到，那张脸是那么热切激动，又那么稚气可掬。她终于窘迫地笑了，而男子顿时容光焕发，又伸手碰了碰帽子。

10Mary stepped back with some embarrassment when she saw the face.She backed into a hawthorn that grew all alone on the canal bank.It was covered with bloom.A shower of the white petals fell about her when she stirred the branches.They clung about her hair like a wreath.He raised his cap and smiled.Mary did not know6这里did not know 表示“没想到”，表达心里的那种激动之情。the face was so eager, so boyish.She smiled a little nervously at last.His face lit up, and he touched his cap again.

11The red-faced man stood by the open hatchway going into the hold, the vessel of water in his hand.He looked at Mary and then at the figure beside the tiller.

“Eh, Michael,” the red-faced man said quizzically.The youth turned back to the boat, and Mary felt the blush spreading over her face.

11红脸人拎着水桶，站在船舱口。先看了看玛丽，又看了看舵柄旁的那个人。

“啊哈，迈克尔。”他调侃地叫了一声。那小伙子转头看向船上，玛丽感觉自己的脸红到了耳根。

12“迈克尔！”

12“Michael!”

Mary repeated the name a little softly to herself.The gods7这里gods 应为爱尔兰古时的神，不是基督教的神。had delivered up one of their great secrets.

玛丽喃喃自语，念叨着那个名字。诸神总算泄露了些许天机。

13She watched The Golden Barque until two square slits in the stern that served as port holes looked like two little Japanese eyes.Then she heard a horn blowing.It was the horn they blew to apprise lock-keepers of the approach of a boat.But the nearest lock was a mile off.Besides, it was a long,low sound the horn made, not the sharp,commanding blast they blew for lockkeepers.Mary listened to the low sound of the horn, smiling to herself.Afterwards the horn always blew like that whenever The Golden Barque was passing the solitary hawthorn.

13她望着金舟离去，两个方孔舷窗逐渐缩小，最后成了一对眯缝着的眼睛。接着她听到了汽笛声。通常船只在靠近水闸时才会鸣笛告知管闸人。可是最近的水闸也在一英里开外，这又是为何？再说，这汽笛声舒缓悠长，不是催促开闸的那种尖锐短促的声音。玛丽听着这低沉的鸣笛，会心地笑了。往后，只要金舟经过那株孤零零的山楂树，总会鸣同样的笛声。

14Mary thought it was very wonderful that The Golden Barque should be in the lock the one day that she was travelling with her basket to the market in the distant village.She stood a little hesitantly by the lock.Michael looked at her, a welcome in his eyes.

14有一天，玛丽提着篮子上远处村庄的市场去，路过水闸时，恰逢金舟，玛丽觉得真巧。在水闸旁，她约略踌躇，停下脚步。迈克尔望着她，眼里满是欢喜。

15“Going to Bohermeen?” the redfaced man asked.

“Ay, to Bohermeen,” Mary answered.

Mary hesitated, as he held out a big hand to help her to the boat.He saw the hesitation and turned to Michael.

“NOW.Michael.” he said.

15“要去波赫曼吗？”红脸人问道。

“嗯，去波赫曼。”玛丽回答说。

那人伸出大手要拉她上船，玛丽犹豫了。看到玛丽举棋不定，他便转身对迈克尔说：

“迈克尔，你来吧。”

16Michael came to the side of the boat, and held out his hand.Mary took it and stepped on board.The red-faced man laughed a little.She noticed that the dark man who stood by the crooked funnel never took his eyes from the stretch of water before him.The driver was already urging the horse to the start on the bank.The brute was gathering his strength for the pull, the muscles standing out on his haunches.They glided out of the lock.

16迈克尔走到船边，伸出手，玛丽拉住，上到船上。红脸人笑了。玛丽环顾四周，看见弯曲的烟囱旁，那个黑汉子目不斜视，望着前方的水域。马夫已经在岸上赶马动身。马鼓足了劲，后股的肌肉都凸了起来。他们驶过水闸。

17It was half a mile from one lock to another.Michael had bidden her stand beside him at the tiller.Once she looked up at him and she thought the face shy but very eager, the most eager face that ever came across the bog from the great world.

17两座水闸相距半英里。迈克尔让玛丽挨着自己站在舵柄边。她曾抬头看了一眼迈克尔的脸。那张脸虽然羞色外露，却也不乏热情。在所有经过这片沼泽地的外乡青年中，唯有那张面孔最为热烈。

18Afterwards, whenever Mary had the time, she would make a cross-cut through the bog to the lock.She would step in and make the mile journey with Michael on The Golden Barque.Once when they were journeying together,Michael slipped something into her hand.It was a quaint trinket, and shone like gold.

“From a strange sailor I got it,” Michael said.

18从那以后，只要玛丽有时间，都会抄捷径穿过泥炭地去水闸边。她在那里登上金舟，陪迈克尔在水中划上一英里。有一次，他们一起航行时，迈克尔偷偷往她手里塞了件东西。那是一件别致的首饰，金光闪闪。

“从一个陌生水手那里弄来的。”迈克尔说。

19Another day that they were on the barque, the blinding sheets of rain that often swept over the bog came upon them.The red-faced man and the dark man went into the hold.Mary looked about her, laughing.But Michael held out his great waterproof for her.She slipped into it and he folded it about her.The rain pelted them, but they stood together, Michael holding the big coat folded about her.She laughed a little nervously.

19有一日，他们在船上时，沼泽地常见的暴雨不期而至，打得睁不开眼睛。红脸人和黑汉子躲进了船舱。玛丽笑着看看四周。迈克尔把自己的大雨衣给了她。玛丽钻进雨衣，迈克尔替她裹好。雨打在身上，他们依然站在一起，迈克尔紧紧抱着裹在玛丽身上的雨衣，她羞怯地笑了。

20“You will be wet,” she said.

20“你会淋湿的。”她说。

Michael did not answer.She saw the eager face coming down close to hers.She leaned against him a little and felt the great strength of his arms about her.They went sailing away together in The Golden Barqut through all the shining seas of the gods.

迈克尔没有吭声。她看到他热切的脸低下来，与她的挨近了。她又向他靠了靠，感觉环绕她的臂膀是那么强劲有力。他们像是驾驶仙舟在神圣光亮的海上航行，驶向远方。

21“迈克尔，”玛丽开口问道，“真美啊，是不是？”

21“Michael,” Mary said once, “is it not lovely?”

“大海才美呢，”迈克尔回答说，“穿过沼泽时，我总会想起大海。”

“The wide ocean is lovely,” Michael said.“I always think of the wide ocean going over the bog.”

“The wide ocean!” Mary said with awe.She had never seen the wide ocean.Then the rain passed.When the two men came up out of the hold Mary and Michael were standing together by the tiller.

22Mary did not go down to the lock after that for some time.She was working in the reclaimed ground8这里reclaimed ground 指原本荒芜、后经垦植适于耕种的土地。on the headland.Once the horn blew late in the night.It blew for a long time, very softly and lowly.Mary sat up in bed listening to it, her lips parted, the memory of Michael on The Golden Barque before her.She heard the sound dying away in the distance.Then she lay back on her pillow, saying she would go down to him when The Golden Barque was on the return journey.

“大海！”玛丽惊叹道。她可没见过大海。雨停了。那两人出来时，他俩还贴在一起，站在舵柄旁。

22那之后的好些日子，玛丽都在篱笆边新开垦的地里劳作，没到水闸那里去。某天深夜，汽笛声响起，响了很久，声音低沉又柔和。玛丽在床上坐起身，丹唇微启，仔细倾听，想起金舟上的迈克尔。听着听着，声音渐渐消失在远处。随后她重新躺下，心想金舟返回时要去看看迈克尔。

23The figure that stood by the tiller on the return was not Michael’s.When Mary came to the lock the red-faced man was telling out the rope, and where Michael always stood by the tiller there was the short strange figure of a man with a pinched, pock-marked face.

23返回的船上，舵柄旁站着的人不是迈克尔。玛丽来到水闸边，看到红脸人正在一圈一圈地解拽缆绳。迈克尔过去经常站的那个地方有个小矮个，一脸苦相，且有麻子。

24When the red-faced man wound the rope round the stump at the lock, bringing the boat to a stand-still, he turned to Mary.

“Michael is gone voyaging,” he said.

“Gone voyaging?” Mary repeated.

24红脸人把缆绳绕在水闸边的木桩上，停稳船，转过头来看向玛丽。

“迈克尔航海去了。”他说。

“航海？”她问。

“Ay,” the man answered.“He would be always talking to the foreign sailors in the dock where the canal ends.His eyes would be upon the big masts of the ships.I always said he would go.”

“是。”那人回答说，“在运河终点的船坞，他常跟外国海员交流，眼睛里只有大桅杆。我一直说他留不住的。”

25玛丽站在岸上，金舟停在水闸边，看起来就像个装在木盒子里的玩具船。

25Mary stood there while The Golden Barque was in the lock.It looked like a toy ship packed in a wooden box.

26“他上了一艘三桅大船。”红脸人说着，准备开船了，“昨晚我看到那船整装待发，预备出海，巨帆高悬，迈克尔就站在下面。他骨子里就向往大海，向往自由闯荡。”红脸人是船老板，他抬眼望了望眼前狭窄的河渠。

26“A three-master he went in,” the red-faced man said, as they made ready for the start.“I saw her standing out for the sea last night.Michael is under the spread of big canvas.He had the blood in him for the wide ocean, the wild blood of the rover.” And the red-faced man, who was the boss of the boat, let his eyes wander up the narrow neck of water before him.

27Mary watched The Golden Barque moving away, the grotesque figure standing by the tiller.She stayed there until a pale moon was shining below her, turning over a little trinket in her fingers.At last she dropped it into the water.

It made a little splash, and the vision of the crescent was broken.■

27玛丽望着金舟远去，舵柄边立着的依旧是那个丑陋猥琐的男子。她静静地站着，手里摩挲着那枚小小的首饰，一直站到水面映出一弯模糊的月影。最终，玛丽把首饰扔进了河里。

河中溅起一团水花，弯弯的月影也碎了。 □