25/70-TED-诗歌之美

No Signs of Struggle

毫无挣扎之兆

Growing small requires enormity of will

由大变小需要强大的意志：

just sitting still in the doctor's waiting room

静静地坐在医生的候诊室里

watching the future shuffle in and out

看着未来在眼前穿梭往复

watching it stoop,stare at you

看着它弯下腰，盯着你

while you try not to look

而你却试图逃避它的目光

Rare is an exchange

很少，你会对它报以

a smile of brief ,wry recognition

一丝自嘲的苦笑

You are the new kid on the block

你就是这里新来的小孩

Everyone here was you once

这里的每个人都曾经是你

You are still learning that growing small requires a largeness of spirt

而你还在学习，由大变小需要一颗强大的灵魂

you can't fit into yet

你的身躯还装不下它

acceptance of irritating help from those who love you

要学会不情愿地接受爱你的人给你的帮助

giving way and over ,but not up

You're swallowed hard the contents of the "Drink Me"bottle

你已经艰难吞下了那瓶“喝了我”的药剂

and felt yourself shrink

感到身体开始缩小

Now, familiar furniture looms

现在，熟悉的家具开始变得模糊

floors tilt,and doorknobs yield only when wrestled round with both hands

地板开始倾斜，门把手也开始不听使唤，必须双手费力才能打开

It demands colossal patience, all this growing small:

面对由大变小，需要异常强大的耐心

your diminished sleep at night

你夜晚的睡眠开始减少

your handwriting,you voice ,your height

你的字迹，声音，身高都开始萎缩

You are more the incredible shrinking woman

你越来越像一位不可思议的缩水老婆（注：一步美国老电影的名字）

than the Buddhist mystic ,serene ,making do with less

而不是一位深居简出，生活简朴的佛教徒

Less is not always more

少并不总是多

Yet in this emptying space,space glimmers

但在这逐渐放空的空间里，发出了微光

becoming visible

人们能看得见

Here is a place behind the eyes of those accustomed

这是他们眼中的一篇天地

by what some would call diminishment

他们已经习惯了所谓的“缩小”

It is a place of merciless poetry

这里是无情诗歌之所在

a gift of presence pteviously ignored

是一份存在的礼物，曾经被忽略

drowned in the daily clutter

淹没在纷繁的日常琐事中

Here every gesture needs intention

在这里，每一个动作都需要目的

is alive with consciousness

充满了鲜活的意识

Nothing is automatic

没有行为是自动化的

You can spot it in the provocation of a button

你处处可见它的踪迹，当按动一颗纽扣

an  arm poking at a sleeve

或将胳膊伸进袖子

a balancing act at a night-time curb while negotiating teh dark

或在夜晚努力掌握平衡，同时与黑夜谈判

Feats of such modest valor

这些看似有些微不足道的英雄行为

who would suspect them to be exerses in an intimate ,fierce discipline

谁会想到都是高强度的训练

a metaphysics of being relentlessly aware

是对自己无情认知的形而上学

Such understarted power here

这些朴素的力量背后

in these tottering dancers who exert stupendous effort

是付出巨大努力的蹒跚舞者

on tasks most view as insignificant

完成世人眼中不值得一提的微小任务

Such quiet beauty here, in these

它们散发着静谧之美

my soft-voiced,stiff-limbed people;

那些声音低柔，四肢僵硬的人们

such resolve masked by each placid face

那些冰冷面具下的坚定的心

There is immensity required in growing small

由大变小需要无限的力量

so bent on such unbending grace

坚定地追求不屈的优雅