Before Two Portraits of My Mother

兩幅母親肖像前

I love the beautiful young girl of this

portrait, my mother, painted years ago

when her forehead was white, and there was no

shadow in the dazzling Venetian glass

of her gaze. But this other likeness shows

the deep trenches across her forehead’s white

marble. The rose poem of her youth that

her marriage sang is far behind. Here is

my sadness: I compare these portraits, one

of a joy-radiant brow, the other care-

heavy: sunrise—and the thick coming on

of night. And yet how strange my ways appear,

for when I look at these faded lips my heart

smiles, but at the smiling girl my tears start.

—Emile Nelligan (1879-1941)

我深愛這名美麗少女的

畫像，她是我的母親，繪制于多年前

當時她的前額白皙無瑕

如同威尼斯玻璃般閃亮，沒有一絲陰影

在她雙眸中。但另一幅肖像顯出

深深的紋痕布滿她皎白大理石般平滑的前額

她少女時的那

首玫瑰情詩

曾在她婚禮中被詠唱，如今已經遠去。

此時我心悲傷：比較這兩幅肖像，一幅顯得

神情愉悅，另一幅顯得心事

重重：一幅如同朝陽初升——另一幅則如迎面而來的陰郁

黑夜。然而我的反應卻顯得非比尋常，

因為當我看著她失去光澤的雙唇，我心

發出微笑，但看著那名微笑的少女，我的淚竟開始涌出。

—艾米里·奈利根 (1879-1941)

Vocabulary

● 1. portrait n. a painting, photograph, or drawing of sb. 畫像;肖像

It took only thirty minutes for the artist in the park to draw a portrait of Jerome.

公園里的畫家只花了30分鐘，就完成了杰羅姆的畫像。

2. marble n. a kind of smooth, light-colored stone; usually used for statues or floors 大理石

Nearly all of the surviving ancient Greek and Roman statues are made of marble.

幾乎所有保存至今的古希臘和古羅馬雕像都是由大理石雕刻的。

● 3. fade v. to become less bright 失去光澤;褪色

As the years went by, the deep blue color of Mary’s favorite pair of jeans faded.

隨著時光流逝，瑪麗最喜歡的那件深藍色牛仔褲已褪了色。

More Information

1. dazzling adj. 璀璨的;耀眼的

2. Venetian glass n. 威尼斯玻璃(以做工精美華麗而著稱，可做成燭臺、酒杯、燈盞、花瓶等精致用品)

3. likeness n. 肖像;畫像(正式說法)

4. trench n. 溝;渠(詩中指母親額頭上的紋痕)

5. joy-radiant adj. 洋溢歡樂喜悅的(radiant 本意為發光的，容光煥發的，詩中用來指因歡樂而滿面春風喜樂;而 care-heavy則指心事重重的樣子)

6. thick adj. (天空或夜色)陰霾的;深濃的(用來形容詩句中的 the coming on of night，意指夜色如毯子般濃烈地逼近)