种种可能
辛波斯卡
我偏爱电影。
我偏爱猫。
我偏爱华尔塔河沿岸的橡树。
我偏爱狄更斯胜过陀思妥耶夫斯基。
我偏爱我对人群的喜欢
胜过我对人类的爱。
我偏爱在手边摆放针线，以备不时之需。
我偏爱绿色。
我偏爱不抱持把一切
都归咎于理性的想法。
我偏爱例外。
我偏爱及早离去。
我偏爱和医生聊些别的话题。
我偏爱线条细致的老式插画。
我偏爱写诗的荒谬
胜过不写诗的荒谬。
我偏爱，就爱情而言，可以天天庆祝的
不特定纪念日。
我偏爱不向我做任何
承诺的道德家。
我偏爱狡猾的仁慈胜过过度可信的那种。
我偏爱穿便服的地球。
我偏爱被征服的国家胜过征服者。
我偏爱有些保留。
我偏爱混乱的地狱胜过秩序井然的地狱。
我偏爱格林童话胜过报纸头版。
我偏爱不开花的叶子胜过不长叶子的花。
我偏爱尾巴没被截短的狗。
我偏爱淡色的眼睛，因为我是黑眼珠。
我偏爱书桌的抽屉。
我偏爱许多此处未提及的事物
胜过许多我也没有说到的事物。
我偏爱自由无拘的零
胜过排列在阿拉伯数字后面的零。
我偏爱昆虫的时间胜过星星的时间。
我偏爱敲击木头。
我偏爱不去问还要多久或什么时候。
我偏爱牢记此一可能——
存在的理由不假外求。
Possibilities
By Wislawa Szymborska
I prefer movies.
I prefer cats.
I prefer the oaks along the Warta.
I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky.
I prefer myself liking people
to myself loving mankind.
I prefer keeping a needle and thread on hand, just in case.
I prefer the color green.
I prefer not to maintain
that reason is to blame for everything.
I prefer exceptions.
I prefer to leave early.
I prefer talking to doctors about something else.
I prefer the old fine-lined illustrations.
I prefer the absurdity of writing poems
to the absurdity of not writing poems.
I prefer, where love’s concerned, nonspecific anniversaries
that can be celebrated every day.
I prefer moralists
who promise me nothing.
I prefer cunning kindness to the over-trustful kind.
I prefer the earth in civvies.
I prefer conquered to conquering countries.
I prefer having some reservations.
I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.
I prefer Grimms' fairy tales to the newspapers' front pages.
I prefer leaves without flowers to flowers without leaves.
I prefer dogs with uncropped tails.
I prefer light eyes, since mine are dark.
I prefer desk drawers.
I prefer many things that I haven’t mentioned here
to many things I’ve also left unsaid.
I prefer zeroes on the loose
to those lined up behind a cipher.
I prefer the time of insects to the time of stars.
I prefer to knock on wood.
I prefer not to ask how much longer and when.
I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility
that existence has its own reason for being.
From “Nothing Twice”, 1997
Translated by S. Baranczak & C. Cavanagh
Copyright © Wislawa Szymborska, S. Baranczak & C. Cavanagh