Rainer Maria Rilke was born on this day in 1875. Read this excerpt from “The Lion Cage.”
Leo Tolstoy, by Leonid Pasternak
Rainer Maria Rilke
You, my own deep soul,
trust me. I will not betray you.
My blood is alive with many voices
telling me I am made of longing.
What mystery breaks over me now?
In its shadow I come into life.
For the first time I am alone with you—
you, my power to feel.
From The Book of Hours I, 39
"Archaic Torso of Apollo" by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
Book of Hours 「時間之書」是誤譯
The Book of Hours
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Hours
日文Goo 辭典對 Book of Hours
- ((時に B- of H-)) (ローマカトリックで)時祷じとう書，(ギリシア正教で)時課経：定められている祈祷文や聖書の箇所など，(定)時課(canonical hours)の内容と順序を記した本.
Breviary ：每日頌禱；時辰頌禱；日課經；日課；大日課；本分經：是教會的公共祈禱，亦即聖職人士、修會會士和熱心教友每日（七次）祈禱時所用的法定經書，藉此履行領洗時所接受的王者司祭職；主要由聖經、聖詠和聖人訓誨組成；共分為： (1) 誦讀日課（今稱），即晨經 Matins 。 (2) 晨禱，即讚美經 Lauds 。 (3) 日間祈禱，又分為：（甲）午前祈禱，即第三時辰經 Terce ；（乙）午時祈禱，即第六時辰經 Sext ；（丙）午後祈禱，即第九時辰經 None 。 (4) 晚禱，即晚經 Vespers 。 … 夜禱，即補充經 Compline 等部分。同 Liturgy of the Hours 或 Book of Hours 。拉丁文稱作 Breviarium 。
翻譯偵探事務所新增了 4 張相片。2014年10月7日〔懷念五Ｏ年代的譯者〕1958年德語詩人里爾克的「時間之書」，詩人方思翻譯，現代詩社出版。里爾克（Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926)很早就受到中國詩壇注意，馮至和梁宗岱都翻譯過他的詩。台灣翻譯里爾克最有名的，前有方思，後有李魁賢。
方思，本名黃時樞（1925- )，湖南長沙人，所以署名常寫「長沙方思」。1948年來台，曾在中央圖書館任職，楊牧曾在回憶中提及去南海路央圖找方思的經驗。方思是1950年代重要詩人，翻譯也不少，但譯詩結集出版的似乎只有這本「時間之書」，另譯有一本圖書館專業書籍「圖書排架工作」，可見詩人平時也是要做些專業工作的。後來方思赴美，也還在圖書館工作。
「時間之書」的英譯本 Book of Hours 有副標題 Love Poems to God，可見其宗教色彩甚重。方思在序中也說，「這種題材（與神的對話）在中國詩中，似為新的對象，實則觀念與信仰，皆與感情密不可分。」殆指宗教詩也可以當情詩來看。像是：「時間之書」的英譯本 Book of Hours 有副標題 Love Poems to God，可見其宗教色彩甚重。方思在序中也說，「這種題材（與神的對話）在中國詩中，似為新的對象，實則觀念與信仰，皆與感情密不可分。」殆指宗教詩也可以當情詩來看。像是：「挖出我的雙眼，而我依然能見你，
打聾我的耳朵，而我依然能聽到你，
而即使一足也無，我能走來向你，」
是宗教詩，也是情詩。
