假如我變成一朵Champa.
只是為了好玩，
我長在花樹的高枝
笑著 搖曳在風裡
叫著 跳舞在新綠的葉叢
妳認得我麼？母親。
妳四處找我：「孩子，你在哪裡？」
我會噤不出聲 暗自竊笑，
狡黠的綻開我的花瓣，
伸出頭偷看妳忙著工作。
沐浴後妳肩上披著濡濕的頭髮，
走過Champa花樹下
來在妳祈禱的中庭
妳會吸進花的香，但意想不到
那香味是來自妳的孩子。
午飯後妳坐在窗邊
閱讀《羅摩耶那》
樹蔭落在妳的黑髮與雙膝
我便把我小小的身影投射在妳的書頁
恰恰在妳正誦讀的字句。
但妳猜得出
那正是妳孩子小小的身影？
入夜妳提燈走向牛棚
我將忽然跳落在妳的面前。
「頑皮的孩子，你去了哪裡？」
「不告訴妳，媽媽。」
我又變回妳的孩子
央求妳為我說個故事。
～黃武雄 2012/08 譯自泰戈爾《新月集》
譯註：我於十九歲初讀泰戈爾此詩，印象深刻。雖然糜文開的中譯文稍嫌散漫，泰戈爾原詩的結尾亦顯得無力，尤其末句更屬多餘，但整首散文詩的意象鮮明生動，仍讓人難忘。當時曾畫一張圖，描繪著變成 champa 花的孩子投他小小的身影在他母親閱讀 Ramayana 的書頁，
恰恰在妳正誦讀的字句。
惜該畫已不知所終。又，譯詩對結尾的順序稍作變動，讓詩句較為緊湊。
原詩英文版（泰戈爾親譯）
THE CHAMPA FLOWER*
Supposing I became a champa flower,
just for fun,
and grew on a branch high up that tree,
and shook in the wind with laughter
and danced upon the newly budded leaves,
would you know me, mother?
You would call,
“Baby, where are you?"
And I should laugh to myself
and keep quite quiet.
I should slyly open my petals
and watch you at your work.
When after your bath,
with wet hair spread on your shoulders,
you walked through the shadow of the champa tree
to the little court where you say your prayers,
you would notice the scent of the flower,
but not know that it came from me.
When after the midday meal
you sat at the window reading Ramayana,
And the tree’s shadow fell over your hair and your lap,
I should fling my wee little shadow on
To the page of your book, just where you were reading.
But would you guess that
it was the tiny shadow of your little child?
When in the evening
you went to the cow-shed with the lighted lamp in your hand,
I should suddenly drop on to the earth again
And be your own baby once more,
And beg you to tell me a story.
“Where have you been, you naughty child?"
“I won’t tell you, mother."
That’s what you and I would say then.
* fr. Rabindranath Tagore’s “THE CRESCENT MOON” (translated from the original Bengali by the author,New York, The Macmillan Company, 1913)
黃武雄教授文集 