A Meditation on Rumi and the Power of Poetry | Leili Anvar | TED

翻译人员: Sue Lu 校对人员: Coco Shen

When I left Iran, I was 15 years old.

我 15 岁离开伊朗时，

I had only taken with me a suitcase of clothes and a few books.

只带了一箱衣物和几本书。

Or so I thought.

当时我是这么想的,

I was wrong.

但我错了。

I had taken with me, in me, an invaluable treasure:

我还带了一件无价之宝：

the Persian language.

波斯语。

A millennium-old language

一种有上千年历史的语言，

that emerged from the beginning as the language of poetry.

从起始就以诗歌存在的语言。

Persian was the language of my childhood paradise.

波斯语是我童年乐园的语言，

The language of tales and nursery rhymes.

那些故事和童谣的语言。

But I had to leave the Garden of Eden.

但我后来不得不离开伊甸园。

It is through the experience of exile that I came to realize

正是通过流亡的经历，我才意识到，

that what I had lost was, yes, a country,

我失去的是一个国家、

a house, a garden.

我的故居、我的伊甸园。

I had been severed from my land, from the landscapes of Iran,

我被迫与故土隔绝，与伊朗大地隔绝，

from the reassuring presence of Mount Damavand,

与赏心悦目的达马万德山隔绝，

covered with snow.

那里终年白雪皑皑。

But nobody could bereave me of my motherland

但是，没人能令我失去故土，

if my motherland was my mother tongue.

我的故土如同我的母语，

Within me what was alive was the language.

始终活在我心深处。

What makes me Iranian is Persian.

使我成为伊朗人的是波斯语，

Specifically, the treasure of Persian poetry.

尤其是瑰丽的波斯诗歌宝藏。

So I started reading poetry,

于是我开始阅读诗歌，

learning poems by heart,

用心学习，

so that I could take them everywhere with me.

好将它们随身携带，

So that I could feel home wherever I go.

无论走到哪里就都有家的感觉。

I embarked on a poetic journey that is still going on.

我踏上一段永无止境的诗歌之旅，

My guide on this journey was no less than Rumi,

这段旅程的导游就是鲁米（Rumi)，

the Persian mystic poet of the 13th century.

13 世纪神秘的波斯诗人鲁米。

In the prologue of his opus magnum,

在他巨著的序诗中，

comparing his poetic work to the song of the reed flute,

他将自己的诗歌与芦笛的乐声相比。

he says,

他说：

(Reciting in Persian)

（用波斯语朗诵）

"Listen to this reed flute.

“听听这支芦笛吧，

Listen how it complains

听听它如何悲鸣，

Telling the tale of separations

讲述分离的故事。

Saying,

它说，

Ever since I was severed from the reed bed

自从我被迫与芦苇荡分离，

Men and women have moaned in unison with my lament

男人女人都与我一同哀泣。

I want a bosom torn by separation

我渴望一个被分离撕裂的怀抱

That I may unfold the pain of love-desire.

好展示我爱欲的痛苦。

Whoever is left far from the origin

谁被迫远走，背井离乡，

Longs to return to the time of union"

谁就会期盼回到相聚相守的时光。”

I remember quite vividly the first time I heard those lines.

我清楚记得第一次听到这些诗句的时候。

It was in 1982,

那是在 1982 年，

during the Iran-Iraq war when Tehran was bombarded.

两伊战争期间， 德黑兰遭到轰炸之时。

There was a circle of poets and poetry lovers

有一群诗人和诗歌爱好者，

who would gather every Friday,

每周五聚在一起，

notwithstanding the risks,

尽管冒着风险，

to read and listen to poetry.

他们仍坚持阅读和聆听诗歌。

My father took me to those gatherings.

我父亲曾带我去参加那些聚会。

I didn’t understand, far from it, all the poetry I heard in those days,

我当时完全听不懂那些诗歌，

and many lines have left my memory.

所以其中许多都忘记了。

But those lines by Rumi,

但是鲁米的那些诗句，

oh my God.

天啊，

A whole world opened in front of me.

就像将整个世界在我眼前展开了。

And Rumi became my companion for life.

鲁米自此成为我一生的陪伴，

My companion of exile.

我流亡时的陪伴。

So in exile I read his poetry,

在流亡期间我阅读他的诗歌，

I listened to the reed,

聆听芦苇的声音，

listened to the reed again and again

一次又一次地聆听，

and said those poems aloud.

然后大声朗读那些诗句。

I wrote my PhD thesis and two books on his works.

我的博士论文和两本著作 都是关于鲁米，

I translated many of his poems.

我翻译了他的许多诗歌。

It is said that Rumi's work is an ocean from which shore no traveler returns.

据说鲁米的作品是一片海洋， 行于其中的旅人无一返航。

I can definitely bear witness to that.

我绝对可以证实这点。

What does the poet mean with this magnificent prologue?

诗人这篇精彩的序诗想表述什么？

“Listen to this reed.”

“听听这根芦苇。”

What does he want us to listen to?

他想让我们聆听什么？

He evokes the pain of exile,

他唤起了流亡的痛苦，

of being separated from where you belong and those you love.

与家园和所爱之人分离的痛苦。

And he insists that his song is the song of all exiles.

他坚持认为他的歌是所有流亡者的写照。

He invites all of us

他邀请我们所有人

to accompany him on the return journey

陪伴他踏上回乡之路，

on the wings of poetry,

乘着诗歌之翼

through the song of the reed flute.

听着芦笛之歌。

And indeed, his poetry is sheer music.

确实，他的诗歌如纯粹的音乐，

Like the reed flute it tells and it whispers to the soul

就像芦笛一样，它向心灵轻述了

a forgotten story.

一个被遗忘的故事。

Rumi himself had fled his native town

鲁米年少时逃离家乡，

in today's Afghanistan

家乡位于当今的阿富汗境内，

when he was very young because of the Mongol’s threat.

起因是蒙古人的入侵威胁。

He left his homeland as a child, never to return.

他离开后再也没有回去过。

He had wandered from town to town until he took refuge in Anatolia.

他在无数城镇间辗转流离， 直到在安纳托利亚寻得避难所。

There, in that foreign land,

在异国他乡，

he kept reading Persian poetry,

他一直坚持读波斯诗歌，

he kept to his mother tongue,

坚持讲母语，

and he taught it to his own children.

还教自己的孩子波斯语。

One day he met Shams of Tabriz in Konya,

有天他在科尼亚 (Konya) 遇到 大不里士的沙姆斯 (Shams of Tabriz)，

that city in which Rumi had become a very respectable preacher

那时鲁米 已成为科尼亚受人尊敬的传教士

and a spiritual guide.

和精神导师。

Shams initiated Rumi to mystical music and dance,

沙姆斯令鲁米接触到神秘音乐和舞蹈，

and above all, to the religion of love.

最重要的是，接触到信仰爱的宗教。

With him, Rumi lived a series of bewildering experiences

鲁米跟随沙姆斯经历了一系列扑朔迷离，

that illuminated him and awakened him to his true self.

照亮灵魂，唤醒真我。

With Shams, Rumi became a poet.

鲁米从此也成为一名诗人。

About this inner transmutation, he says,

关于这种内在蜕变，鲁米说：

"I was dead,

“我死了，

alive I became.

然后活过来。

I was tears.

我曾是泪水，

Laughter I became.

然后变成笑声。

The rain of love came upon me,

爱的雨水淋透我身，

and my joy eternal became.”

我的喜悦变成永恒。”

(Reciting in Persian)

（用波斯语朗诵）

Through his lyric poetry,

通过他的抒情诗，

through the innumerable stories he tells,

还有他讲述的无数故事，

Rumi points not only to his own individual experience,

鲁米不仅道出了他的个人经历，

but he reminds us of our situation in life.

也提示我们人生中共有的处境。

Whoever we are,

无论我们是谁，

wherever we live,

无论住在哪里，

we are in exile.

我们其实都在流亡。

Because as celestial souls, we belong to another world,

作为天体灵魂， 我们属于另一世界，

to a lost paradise to which we shall return,

属于那失落的天堂， 我们想回归的地方。

provided we have developed our spiritual awareness

而回归的条件是， 我们培育精神意识

and our humanity.

和我们的人性。

Through the beauty of his words,

通过他的言语之美，

Rumi makes us feel all the prism of human emotions.

鲁米让我们感受到人类情感的所有棱射。

He makes us taste

他让我们品尝

earthly desires and celestial hopes as all real poetry should do.

人间欲望和天堂的向往， 那是所有真正诗歌的使命。

And over and over again, he returns to the centrality of love

一次又一次，他回归爱的核心，

as every real poet should do.

如每个真正的诗人所为。

And that is why we need the poets.

这就是为什么我们需要诗人，

To remember who we are and where we belong.

以记住我们是谁，我们归属何方。

Poetry has the power to transmute reality

诗歌有能力将现实转化为

into something rich and meaningful.

丰富而有意义的东西。

To me, it was life-saving.

对我来说，它能挽救生命。

When we look at the world,

当我们审视这个世界，

at the inhumanity of humanity sometimes,

审视人类时而为之的残忍行径时，

how not to feel in exile, indeed?

怎可能不感受到心在流亡？

How not to cry on "Love's Labour's Lost?"

怎可能不在“失落的爱情“中哭泣？ （“Love’s Labor’s Lost”）

How not to be desperate and disoriented?

怎可能不感到绝望和迷茫？

Poetry can help us through the darkness of times.

但诗歌可以帮助我们度过黑暗时光，

As do all the arts if they are spiritually oriented.

所有的精神艺术都可以帮到我们。

So reading,

因此，阅读、

rendering,

翻译、

writing, reciting poetry is a therapy.

写作、吟诵诗歌都是有效的疗法，

It connects us with what is most essential in life,

将我们与生活的本质联系起来，

and that is why it should be cherished.

因此，我们一定要珍惜。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）