The Crescent Moon 07: The Beginning

The Beginning

“Where have I come from? Where did you pick me up?” The baby asked its mother.
She answered, half crying, half laughing and clasping the baby to her breast, – “You were hidden in my heart as its desire, my darling.
You were in the dolls of my childhood’s games; and when with clay I made the image of my god every morning, I made and unmade you then.
you were enshrined with our household deity, In his worship I worshipped you.
In all my hopes and my loves, in my life, in the life of my mother you have lived.
In the lap of the deathless Spirit who rules us our home you have been nursed for ages.
When in girlhood my heart was opening its petals, you hovered as a fragrance about it.
Your tender softness bloomed in my youthful limbs, like a glow in the sky before the sunrise.
Heaven’s first darling, twin-born with the morning light, you have floated down the stream of the world’s life and at last you have stranded on my heart.
As I gaze on your face, mystery overwhelms me; You who belong to all have become mine.
For fear of losing you I hold you tight to my breast. What magic has snared the world’s treasure in these slender arms of mine?”

Original author: Rabindranath Tagore.

开始

“我从哪里来的, 你, 在哪里把我捡起来的？”孩子问他的妈妈。
她把孩子紧紧地搂在胸前，半哭半笑地答道–
“你曾被我当作心愿，藏在我的心里，我的宝贝。
“你曾存在于我孩童时代玩的泥娃娃身上；每天早晨我用泥土塑造我的神像, 那时我反复地塑了又捏碎了的就是你。
“你曾和我们的家庭守护神一同受到祀奉。我崇拜家神时，也就崇拜了你。
“你曾活在我所有的希望和爱情里，活在我的生命里。 我母亲的生命里。
“在主宰着我们家庭的不死的精灵的漆上，你已经被抚育了好多代了。
“当我做女孩子的时候，我心的花瓣儿张开，你就像一股花香似的散发出来。
“你软软的温柔在我的青春的肢体上开花了，像太阳出来之前的天空上的一片曙光。
“上天的第一宠儿，晨曦的孪生兄弟。你从世界的生命的溪流浮泛而下，终于停泊在我的心头。
“当我凝视你的脸蛋的时候，神秘之感淹没了我。你属于一切人的竟成了我的。
“为了怕失掉你，我把你紧紧地搂在胸前。是什么魔术把这世界的宝贝引到我这纤小的手臂里来呢？”

原作者：Rabindranath Tagore。中文译者：郑振铎。