Fafner's 遁世居

"I Sing the Body Electric" 是一首詩，也是一首歌；雖然，歌的內容不是取材自詩，但歌名是從詩名而來，這是無庸置疑的。

歌，是 亞倫．派克（Alan Parker）執導，1980 年電影《名揚四海》（Fame）的最終畢業演出曲，這段歌、舞表演，是整部電影的最高潮：

I Sing the Body Electric

(Music: Michael Gore, Lyrics: Dean Pitchford)

I sing the body electric
I celebrate the me yet to come
I toast to my own reunion
When I become one with the sun

And I'll look back on Venus
I'll look back on Mars
And I'll burn with the fire of ten million stars
And in time
And in time
We will all be stars

I sing the body electric
I glory in the glow of rebirth
Creating my own tomorrow
When I shall embody the earth

And I'll serenade Venus
I'll serenade Mars
And I'll burn with the fire of ten million stars
And in time
And in time
We will all be stars

We are the emperors now
And we are the czars
And in time
And in time
We will all be stars

I sing the body Electric
I celebrate the me yet to come
I toast to my own reunion (my own reunion)
When I become one with the stars

And I'll Look back on Venus
(I'll look back on vanity)
I'll look back on Mars
(Ill at this path)
I'll burn with the fire
(burn)
Of 10 million stars
(fire inside)
And in time (And in time)
And in time
And in time (and in time)
And in time
And in time (and in time)
And in time
WE WILL ALL BE STARS

而詩，則出自美國詩人惠特曼（Walt Whitman）的詩集《草葉集》（Leaves of Grass）。"I Sing the Body Electric" 原詩在初版時沒有標題，故一般皆以詩的起首句稱之；直到稍後再版的版本，才列為正式詩名。

這首詩頗長，歌頌的是人類的肉體之美。我會介紹這首詩，乃是因為在著名的棒球電影《百萬金臂》（ Bull Durham）裡，女主角 Annie 把年輕的投手 Nuke 綁在床上，就是唸著這一首詩給他聽。

這部電影也是這兩位演員——蘇珊．莎朗登（Susan Sarandon）和提姆．羅賓斯（Tim Robbins）的定情之作，兩人的關係一直維繫到去年年底。

電影裡當然不可能把整首詩全部唸完，我節選了有念到的幾段，並把唸出的句子，以黑體字標出。中文翻譯，我採用的是楊耐冬的譯本（《草葉集》，志文出版社出版）。

I Sing the Body Electric

1

I sing the body electric,
The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.

Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?
And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?

一

我歌唱帶電的肉體；
我所熱愛的那一大群環抱我，我也擁抱他們；
他們不放開我，除非我與他們同行，應允他們，
別使他們墮落，要以靈魂的電荷給他們完全充電。

是否有人懷疑，認為那些身體已腐的人已把自己隱藏起來？
是否有人懷疑，認為玷污生者的那些人也一樣惡劣地玷污了死者？
是否肉體不像靈魂那樣能完全發揮它的功能？
如果肉體不是靈魂，那麼什麼才是靈魂？

2

The love of the body of man or woman balks account, the body itself balks account,
That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.
The expression of the face balks account,
But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face,
It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists,
It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees, dress does not hide him,

......

二

對男人或女人肉體的愛難以描述，肉體本身難以描述；
男性的肉體完美，女性的肉體也完美。
臉孔的表情難以描述；

而健壯的男性，他的表情不僅顯露在他的臉孔上；
也顯露在他的肢體與關節上；也奇特地顯露在他的臀部和手腕的關節上；
也顯露在他的步態上和脖子的表態上；從他的手腕和膝蓋的彈性伸屈也可以看出；衣服也並不能把他給遮住；

……

5

This is the female form,
A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot,
It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,
I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor,
all falls aside but myself and it,
Books, art, religion, time, the visible and solid earth, and what
was expected of heaven or fear'd of hell, are now consumed,
Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it, the response
likewise ungovernable,
Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands all
diffused, mine too diffused,
Ebb stung by the flow and flow stung by the ebb, love-flesh swelling
and deliciously aching,
Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of
love, white-blow and delirious nice,
Bridegroom night of love working surely and softly into the prostrate dawn,
Undulating into the willing and yielding day,
Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweet-flesh'd day.

......

五

這是女性的胴體形像；
從頭到腳都發出一種神聖的光輪；
它以無可抗拒的強烈媚力吸引著人；
我被它的呼吸所吸入，我宛若一縷無助的輕煙，除了我自己和它之外，一切都已消逝；
書籍、藝術、宗教、時間、看得見的堅實大地、對天堂的期望、對地獄的恐懼，現在已經什麼都不存在了；
一縷縷瘋狂的細絲，從內裡投射出來，無法控制這種反應；
頭髮、胸脯、臀部，腿彎曲著，雙手不經意地垂下，我的這一切也四處飄散宛如一縷輕煙；
一陣又一陣，愛的肌膚膨脹，且甜美地疼痛；
無盡的、潔淨的愛的液體，受熱的延伸，震顫了愛的凍液；白色的汁液和癡狂的汁液；
新郎的愛之夜，沉沉地、溫柔地持續到疲軟，到破曉時分；
一波又一波，心滿意足；完全自願臣服的夜；
消失在擁抱和甜美的肌膚撫觸中，在白晝的隙縫中。

……

 

---