碧許在1939年的一次舟釣之旅中，釣到一尾大海鱸。在詩人的凝視和靈思下，這尾歷經劫難的大魚化身成奮勇求生的弱勢英雄，而諾亞方舟中象徵劫後餘生的彩虹，卻來自船底的浮油——詩人因此那條魚放生了，並把這個過程寫成了她個人詩作中被收入詩選次數最多的一首名詩＜魚＞(The Fish)。1990年諾貝爾文學獎得主帕斯（Octavio Paz, 1914〜1998）曾經這樣評論碧許的詩歌：「詩是另一種聲音，來自他方的聲音，但這他方永遠也是此地。」先讓我們聼聼碧許自他方帶到我們此地的聲音吧！

The Fish
（Elizabeth Bishop, 1911－1979)

I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled with barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
--the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly--
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
--It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
--if you could call it a lip--
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels--until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.

魚
(尤克強譯）

我釣到一條大魚
把他拖靠船邊
他半沉在水裏 魚鈎
緊緊勾住了他嘴角
他沒有掙扎
完全沒有掙扎
沉甸甸的份量
在劫難中保持著尊嚴
雖然不再美觀 全身
表皮佈滿褐色條紋
像是古舊的壁紙
那些深褐色的圖形
更是像極了壁紙：
形狀如盛開的玫瑰
但已風華落盡而失色
身上滿是貝斑
細細的薔薇狀石灰斑
還沾著
白色的小海蝨
身體下方有兩三根
綠藻的殘葉懸著
兩鰓仍死命地吸進
那可怕的氧氣
——嚇死人的鰓
生猛帶血
還能狠狠地刮傷人——
我想到鮮白的魚肉
像塞緊欲蹦的羽毛
大魚骨和小魚刺
刺眼的紅色和黑色的
油亮的内臟
還有粉紅色的魚膘
像一朵大牡丹花
我凝視他的眼睛
比我的大許多
比較淺 帶一點黃
上頭的虹膜填滿了
暗銹的錫箔
透過水晶體可以看見
但晶面已刮痕累累
他的眼睛動了動 並非
回應我的注視
——比較像傾斜一下
以便能朝向亮光
我欣賞他陰鬱的表情
和他下巴的結構
然後我看到
在他的下唇
——如果還能叫做唇——
頑酷 濕潤 像武器一般
掛著五條舊釣綫
或是四條和一根鈎絲
仍然拖著旋鐶
大辣辣的五個魚鈎
緊緊地從嘴巴伸出
一條綠綫 綫頭綻開了
被他咬斷的 另兩條比較粗
還有一根細黑綫
因爲拉扯而捲曲
是他逃脫的時候掙斷的
就像是綴著絲帶的勳章
絲帶綻開飄擺
五根智慧的鬍鬚
垂在他痛苦的下巴
我一直注視著
勝利的感覺充滿在
這艘租來的小船裏
船底有一灘水
油光泛出彩虹色
繞著銹跡斑斑的引擎
滾向橘色漬的滔水桶
座板被太陽曬裂了
船漿架繫著繩索
以及船舷——直到一切
都化成彩虹彩虹彩虹！
我放走了那條魚

我們下週在繼續探討碧許的一生遭遇，看看命運如何成就了這麼一位詩人。