啊！詩人，
黃昏將盡，汝髮將白
你在孤寂的沈思中 是否
聽到來世的音信？
“這是黃昏”，詩人說
“我在傾聽來自村落的呼喚
雖然天色已晚”。
我在觀看是否有
年輕而迷亂的心相遇
兩雙熱切的眼眸 渴望著
音樂來打破沈寂 互道衷曲。
誰來為他們 編織熱情的歌？
如果我只靜靜坐在
這生命的崖岸 冥想著
死亡與超世。
早先露臉的黃昏星 已經消失
河水靜默 葬禮的灰燼行將熄滅
月色黯淡 從遠處廢屋的庭院
傳來野狼 此起彼落的嚎叫。
設若流浪者遠離家園
來在這裡 用他的心 凝視著夜晚
低著頭 聆聽黑暗的呢喃
誰來把生命的秘密 向他低語？
如果我關起門
只為逃脫自身死亡的鎖鏈。
白髮蒼蒼 無庸在意
我始終與村里最年輕的人
一樣年輕
與最年老的人一樣年老。
有人的微笑 甜蜜而純真
有人的眼神 閃過狡黠的亮光
有人在白日 淚如泉湧
有人在暗夜 默默哭泣。
他們都需要我
我無暇去推敲 來世的訊息
我有每一個人的年齡
誰還在意 這滿頭白髮？
～黃武雄*譯自泰戈爾《園丁集》(Rabindranath Tagore,《Gardener》Sect.2)
*相對於某些超自然主義者
放著現世的真實不管，
只顧追求天人合一，
或嚮往來世的神秘，
泰戈爾的詩流露出
他觀照現世的情懷。
泰戈爾與甘地
兩人從裡到外，
看不出一點相似。
但為什麼他們會惺惺相惜？
“身穿丐衣的偉人”，
泰戈爾這樣說甘地，
甘地則稱泰戈爾為
“the great sentinel”.
觀照現世
是兩人堅定而共通的信念。
可憐這種信念
在東方傳統知識份子
普遍逃避現世的文化裡，
卻是少見的。
信手翻詩，
看到這種淑世樸實
不忘初衷的情懷，尤其欣喜，
隨興譯成中文，以饗朋友。
（黃武雄）
英文版原詩，Tagore 本人英譯：
Ah! poet, the evening draws near; your hair is turning gray.
Do you in your lonely musing hear the message of the hereafter?
“It is evening,” the poet said, “and I am listening because someone may call from the village, late though it be.
“I watch if young straying hearts meet together, and two pairs of eager eyes beg for music to break for their silence and speak for them.
“Who is there to weave their passionate songs, if I sit on the shore of life and contemplate death and the beyond?
“The early evening star disappears.
“The glow of a funeral pyre slowly dies by the silent river.
“Jackals cry in chorus from the courtyard of the deserted house in the light of the worn-out moon.
“If some wanderer, leaving home, come here to watch the night and with bowed head listen to the murmur of the darkness, who is there to whisper the secrets of life into his ears if I, shutting my doors, should try to free myself from mortal bonds?
“It is a trifle that my hair is turning gray. I am ever as young or as old as the youngest and the oldest of this village.
“Some have smiles sweet and simple, and some have a sly twinkle in their eyes.
“Some have tears that well up in the daylight, and others tears that are hidden in the gloom.
“They all have need for me, and I have no time to brood over the afterlife.
“I am of an age with each, what matter if my hair turns gray?”
黃武雄教授文集 