[譯作] I let the flies bite me when I meditate (當我冥想時我讓蒼蠅咬我) by Nick Demske

I let the flies bite me when I meditate

Nick Demske

because I am a blood abundance

and it is said that when you yield an amplitude

it is right to give

of the surplus

and who among us would not bring forth

an teardrop of hemoglobin

if it would feed a starving beggar

and who among us could not afford

to spare a raindrop in the flash flood

O I saith unto thee,

it is this abundance

which hath bowed our backs

this bounty—

like a price

on our heads,

which hang—

but here have come

mine guardian angels

to alight upon me

and banquet,

to sit at meat

and to make my burden

light

Copyright © 2021 by Nick Demske. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 9, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets, at https://poets.org/poem/i-let-flies-bite-me-when-i-meditate?mc_cid=38d9877153&mc_eid=5534c56b2c (last visited Aug 10, 2021)

About this poem

“I began this poem shortly after Michael Brown was killed. The original drafts spoke directly to that, but the more I edited, the more abstract it became—largely I think because I wanted to avoid exploiting the tragedy. As true as the words of the poem are, I hope the poem is also clearly a socialist meditation on equity. But ultimately, in a personal way, at least, the poem is asking the question: how much am I willing to put my own body at risk to demand safety for the whole human family? As Jesse Jackson said, as Dr. King repeated the day before he was murdered—how much are we willing to ‘redistribute the pain’ to live in solidarity with those most vulnerable among us?”—Nick Demske

The Author

Nick Demske is the author of Nick Demske (Fence Books, 2010). A children’s librarian at the Racine Public Library and County Supervisor for Racine County’s First District, Demske is the co-founder of the BONK! Poetry and Music series and co-founder of the Joshua Glover Justice Fund, a bail fund for people incarcerated pretrial in Racine County.

The Chinese translation

當我冥想時我讓蒼蠅咬我

Nick Demske

translated by Jannes Liao

由於我是血庫

聽說當你振翅飛來時

就該給予你

那過剩的

我們之中誰能擰出

血紅素之淚

如是供養乞食者

而又是誰無法伸出手

在大水忽起時捨下一滴雨

噢　我告訴你

正是這般豐沛

使我們得以堅信

慷慨—

如同代價

在我們頭頂上

掛著—

而隨即到來者

是我的護守天使

落在我身軀上

赴宴，

就坐於餐上

為我捎來的負擔

是輕省的[1]

[1] 譯註：見《聖經．馬太福音》11:30　「要知道，我的軛是容易負的，我的擔子是輕省的。（CSB）」英譯：「For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (NIV)」

• 引用資料：(1) Meditation, photo by Ram Dass (2) Michael Brown, photo by The New York Times (3) Nick Demske, photo by poets.org
• 本詩譯於今年 立秋‧涼風至，書寫時佐deca joins的歌曲《夜間獨白 (demo)》。