Love at First Sight by Wislawa Szymborska

Love at First Sight 一見鐘情
Wislawa Szymborska 辛波絲卡

Both are convinced
that a sudden surge of emotion bound them together.
Beautiful is such a certainty,
but uncertainty is more beautiful.

Because they didn't know each other earlier, they suppose that
nothing was happening between them.
What of the streets, stairways and corridors
where they could have passed each other long ago?

I'd like to ask them
whether they remember-- perhaps in a revolving door
ever being face to face?
an "excuse me" in a crowd
or a voice "wrong number" in the receiver.
But I know their answer:
no, they don't remember.

They'd be greatly astonished
to learn that for a long time
chance had been playing with them.

Not yet wholly ready
to transform into fate for them
it approached them, then backed off,
stood in their way
and, suppressing a giggle,
jumped to the side.

There were signs, signals:
but what of it if they were illegible.
Perhaps three years ago,
or last Tuesday
did a certain leaflet fly
from shoulder to shoulder?
There was something lost and picked up.
Who knows but what it was a ball
in the bushes of childhood.

There were doorknobs and bells
on which earlier
touch piled on touch.
Bags beside each other in the luggage room.
Perhaps they had the same dream on a certain night,
suddenly erased after waking.

Every beginning
is but a continuation,
and the book of events
is never more than half open.

-translated by Walter Whipple

想寫些東西，一直沒有題材，突然腦海中閃出了這一篇 Szymborska 的 Love at First Sight，馬上就提起筆寫點東西。記得是在自己在高一的時候第一次讀這首詩，尤其是在看完《向左走 向右走》後，印象更加深刻，相信大家也深有同感。

作者是波蘭人，曾經在1996年獲得了諾貝爾文學獎，至今爲止是第3位獲得此殊榮的女作家。目前，也是波蘭最受歡迎的女詩人之一。而《一見鍾情》這一篇原為波蘭文，在市面上有兩種版本，而我選擇了Walter Whipple所翻的。另外，也有中文版的，由台灣學者陳黎所翻譯，但覺得一翻再翻失去了詩意，所以不轉貼出來。

喜歡Szymborska的詩在於透過她善用生活上的小細節透露、暗示、傳達信息給讀者。就像《一見鍾情》中，兩個素未謀面又何能因爲因迸發的熱情相遇，無數的錯過是機緣巧合還是命中注定，都是作者要表達的。透露出人與人之間的微妙關係，環環相扣，層層交錯，耐人尋味。

其中，自己很喜歡兩小段，分別是開頭Beautiful is such a certainty, /but uncertainty is more beautiful.覺得這一段完全就是符合我的個性，對於一般循規蹈矩我更喜歡刺激挑戰。呵呵，可能在選擇刺激之前我會有些猶豫、懦弱，也因爲這樣我能更享受之後的滿足感。另外就是最後一段Every beginning /is but a continuation,/and the book of events/is never more than half open.「每一個開始，只是一個續篇」這一節我能夠理解；但下一節：「而充滿情節的書本，總是從一半開始看起」卻似有似無，從意象上抓到一點東西，卻又好像不能言傳，深有同感，卻又只能點點頭而已的那種感覺，原文譯文都是如此。

看了一些作者的相關資料，意外發現她的照片，真的是絕頂聰明、有智慧的女性。怎麽讓我感覺與英女王略有幾分相像呢？