思考問題
◎維傑謝沙哲／沈政男翻譯

那將是多麼詭異，如果你在街上遇見你自己？
多麼詭異，如果你喜歡你自己，
執起你自己的手臂，與自己結婚，
以只有你才知道的技術繁衍，
然後定居這世界？複製的你四處皆是。
有些是阿拉伯人。有些是猶太人。有些住在蒙古包。那是
令人生厭之事，然而你
甜美又整潔到一絲不苟的你
出現在地球的諸多地點看著帶角月亮升起
好過那邊所有蠢蛋，
當我們舉目四望，他們一概變成鹽柱。
如果我們必須孕育人，讓他們是你，
噴澆你的天竺葵，自己開車到成衣店，
用吹箭殺死你的晚餐。
是的，只有在森林裡你才感到平和，
在樹枝上，下到絕美河谷，
然而你已看透其他一切事物。
你曾在驚恐中遁逃，穿越結冰湖面，
你曾置身沙中，皇宮，
監獄，碼頭邊妓女戶；
而且許久以前，在同一星球，你回到家
來到一間空房子，倒了一杯汽水威士忌，
坐在躺椅上，在一間未開燈的吵雜房間，
困惑於你的遭遇。

THOUGHT PROBLEM
BY VIJAY SESHADRI

How strange would it be if you met yourself on the street?
How strange if you liked yourself,
took yourself in your arms, married your own self,
propagated by techniques known only to you,
and then populated the world? Replicas of you are everywhere.
Some are Arabs. Some are Jews. Some live in yurts. It is
an abomination, but better that your
sweet and scrupulously neat self
emerges at many points on the earth to watch the horned moon rise
than all those dolts out there,
turning into pillars of salt wherever we look.
If we have to have people, let them be you,
spritzing your geraniums, driving yourself to the haberdashery,
killing your supper with a blowgun.
Yes, only in the forest do you feel at peace,
up in the branches and down in the terrific gorges,
but you’ve seen through everything else.
You’ve fled in terror across the frozen lake,
you’ve found yourself in the sand, the palace,
the prison, the dockside stews;
and long ago, on this same planet, you came home
to an empty house, poured a Scotch-and-soda,
and sat in a recliner in the unlit rumpus room,
puzzled at what became of you.

-------------------------------------

維傑謝沙哲（Vijay Seshadri）是甫出爐的普立茲詩獎得主，得獎詩集為《三個章節》，＜思考問題＞是裡頭一首作品。他是印度裔美國詩人與評論家，出生於1954年，現居紐約。

（圖片來源：http://blogs.citypages.com/dressingroom/2014/04/greywolf_press.php）