Ah, who was it colored that little frock, my child, and covered your sweet limbs with that little red tunic?
You have come out in the morning to play in the courtyard, tottering and tumbling as you run.
But who was it colored that little frock, my child?
What is it makes you laugh, my little life-bud?
Mother smiles at you standing on the threshold.
She claps her hands and her bracelets jingle, and you dance with your bamboo stick in your hand like a tiny little shepherd.
But what is it makes you laugh, my little life-bud?
被忽略的盛会
啊，谁把那条小裙子染上了颜色，我的孩子，谁给你温润的四肢套上了那件小红衣?
你清晨出来在院子里玩耍，你跑得摇摇晃晃、跌跌撞撞。
但究竟是谁把那条小裙子染上了颜色，我的孩子？
什么事让你大笑，我生命的小蓓蕾？
母亲站在门口，微笑地望着你。
她拍着手，手镯叮当作响，你手执竹竿跳着舞，活像一个小牧童。
但究竟是什么事让你大笑，我生命的小蓓蕾？
O beggar, what do you beg for, clinging to your mother’s neck with both your hands?
O greedy heart, shall I pluck the world like a fruit from the sky to place it on your little rosy palm?
O beggar, what are you begging for?
The wind carries away in glee the tinkling of your anklet bells.
The sun smiles and watches your toilet.
The sky watches over you when you sleep in your mother’s arms, and the morning tiptoes to your bed and kisses your eyes.
The wind carries away in glee the tinkling of your anklet bells.
The fairy mistress of dreams is coming towards you, flying through the twilight sky.
The world-mother keeps her seat by you in your mother’s heart.
He who plays his music to the stars is standing at your window with his flute.
And the fairy mistress of dreams is coming towards you, flying through the twilight sky.
喔，小乞儿，你双手搂着母亲的脖子，想要些什么？
喔，贪婪的心，要我把整个世界从天上摘下来，像摘果实那样，把它放在你纤小的玫瑰色掌心里吗？
喔，小乞儿，你在乞求什么？
风欢喜地带走了你脚踝上的叮当声。
太阳微笑着，看你梳洗。
当你在母亲的臂弯里睡觉时，天空凝视着你，晨光轻手轻脚地来到你的床前，轻吻你的眼睛。
风欢喜地带走了你脚踝上的叮当声。
梦中的精灵正穿越略有薄暮的天空向你飞来。
那世界之母借着你母亲的心，保留与你毗邻的位置。
他，那个为群星奏乐的人正拿着长笛站在你的窗前。
梦中的精灵正穿越略有薄暮的天空向你飞来。
Sleep-Stealer
Who stole sleep from baby’s eyes? I must know.
Clasping her pitcher to her waist mother went to fetch water from the village nearby.
It was noon. The children’s playtime was over; the ducks in the pond were silent.
The shepherd boy lay asleep under the shadow of the banyan tree.
The crane stood grave and still in the swamp near the mango grove.
In the meanwhile the Sleep-stealer came and, snatching sleep from baby’s eyes, flew away.
When mother came back she found baby traveling the room over on all fours.
Who stole sleep from our baby’s eyes? I must know. I must find her and chain her up.
窃眠者
谁从婴儿的眼中窃去了睡眠？我必须知道。
母亲把她的水壶夹在腰间，去邻村汲水。
正午时分。孩童的戏耍时间已经结束，池塘里的鸭子沉默无声。
牧童在榕树的树荫下睡去了。
白鹤庄严而安静地立在芒果树旁的泥沼中。
此时，窃眠者进来，从婴儿的眼中偷走了睡眠，飞走了。
当母亲回来时，发现婴儿在屋里的地板上爬着。
谁从婴儿的眼中窃去了睡眠？我必须知道。我一定要找到她，把她锁起来。
我一定要去那个黑洞里查找，在那里，一条小溪从圆的、有皱纹的石头中汩汩流出。
I must look into that dark cave, where, through boulders and scowling stones, trickles a tiny stream.
I must search in the drowsy shade of the bakula grove, where pigeons coo in their corner, and fairies’ anklets tinkle in the stillness of starry nights.
In the evening I will peep into the whispering silence of the bamboo forest, where fireflies squander their light, and will ask every creature I meet, “Can anybody tell me where the Sleep-stealer lives?”
Who stole sleep from baby’s eyes? I must know.
Shouldn’t I give her a good lesson if I could only catch her!
I would raid her nest and see where she hoards all her stolen sleep.
I would plunder it all, and carry it home.
I would bind her two wings securely, set her on the bank of the river, and then let her play at fishing with a reed among the rushes and water-lilies.
When the marketing is over in the evening, and the village children sit in their mothers’ laps, then the night birds will mockingly din her ears with:
“Whose sleep will you steal now?”
我一定要在醉花丛中氤氲的树影里寻找，在那里，鸽子在它们的角落里咕咕地叫着，精灵的脚环在繁星满空的静夜里叮当作响。
黄昏时，我睥睨着竹林呢喃的静谧，萤火虫在那里挥霍着它们的光芒，我将寻问我遇到的每一个生灵：“谁能告诉我窃眠者住在哪里？”
谁从婴儿的眼中窃去了睡眠？我必须知道。
我一旦抓住她，就好好教训她一顿！
我将闯入她的窝，看看她把窃得的睡眠藏在何处。
我将夺来她的一切，带回家。
我要牢牢锁住她的羽翼，把她放在河边，
给她一根芦苇，让她在灯芯草和睡莲间以钓鱼为戏。
黄昏，街市已经收了，村里的孩子们坐在母亲的膝上，
于是夜鸟便在她的耳边讥笑着说：
“你现在要窃谁的睡眠呢？”
Baby’s World
I wish I could take a quiet corner in the heart of my baby’s very own world.
I know it has stars that talk to him, and a sky that stoops down to his face to amuse him with its silly clouds and rainbows.
Those who make believe to be dumb, and look as if they never could move, come creeping to his window with their stories and with trays crowded with bright toys.
I wish I could travel by the road that crosses baby’s mind, and out beyond all bounds;
Where messengers run errands for no cause between the kingdoms of kings of no history;
Where Reason makes kites of the laws and flies them, and Truth sets Fact free from its fetters.
孩童的世界
我愿自己能在我的孩子的世界中占一方净土。
我知道繁星会对他私语，天空也会俯身来到他的面前，用它傻傻的云朵和彩虹来逗弄他。
那些让人以为不会说话和看起来永远不会动弹的人，带着他们的故事和满是明亮玩具的托盘，悄悄地爬到他的窗前。
我愿自己能在穿越孩子心灵的道路上旅行，摆脱所有的束缚；
在那里，使者徒然奔走于没有历史的王国君主间；
在那里，理智把它的法则当做风筝来放飞，真理也会使事实摆脱羁绊，得以自由。
The Beginning
“Where have I come from, where did you pick me up?” the baby asked its mother.
She answered half crying, half laughing, and clasping the baby to her breast, You were hidden in my heart as its desire, my darling.
You were in the dolls of my childhood’s games; and when with clay I made the image of my god every morning, I made and unmade you then.
You were enshrined with our household deity, in his worship I worshipped you.
In all my hopes and my loves, in my life, in the life of my mother you have lived.
In the lap of the deathless spirit who rules our home you have been nursed for ages.
开始
“我是从哪里来的，你在哪里把我捡来的？”孩子问他的母亲。
她把孩子紧紧地搂在胸前，半哭半笑地回答道：
你曾经是我藏在心底的心愿，我的宝贝。
你曾藏在我儿时玩的泥娃娃身上；每天早晨我用泥土塑造我的神像，那时我塑造完又捏碎的就是你。
你曾同我们家的守护神一同被敬奉，我敬拜家神时也敬拜了你。
你曾活在我的一切希望和爱里，活在我的生命里，活在我母亲的生命里。