As imperceptibly as Grief (Emily Dickinson (1830-1886))
As imperceptibly as Grief 如憂傷般不可察覺，
The Summer lapsed away-- 夏日流逝–
Too imperceptible at last, 如此纖細地流逝，
To seem like Perfidy-- 而顯得不是背信–
A Quietness distilled 一種蒸餾了的寧靜
As Twilight long begun, 於早已露臉的曙光，
Or Nature spending with herself 或是大自然與她自己
Sequestered Afternoon-- 於午后隱居–
The Dusk drew earlier in-- 是色提前來臨–
The Morning foreign shone-- 是晨光陌生閃鑠–
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace, 是親密但痛心的溫雅，
As Guest who would be gone-- 如客人，即將離去–
And thus, without a Wing 這般地，無翼，
Or service of a Keel 亦無船隻伴隨，
Our Summer made her light escape 我們的夏日輕盈地
Into the Beautiful. 逃逸至美。
推薦原因
如憂傷般不可察覺，是我非常喜愛的一首詩。淺淺淡淡的描述，如夢似畫的情境，總能帶給我出乎意料的平靜。狄更生的詩富於睿智，新奇的比喻隨手拋擲，順心驅使各個領域的辭彙。喜歡在詩中扮演不同角色，有時是新娘，有時是小男孩，尤其喜歡用已死者的身分說話。痛苦與狂喜，死亡與永生，都是狄更生詩歌的重要主題。我特別喜歡在夜深人靜時，泡一壺茶，細細咀嚼著這清雅細緻的美。
作者介紹
埃米莉·伊莉莎白·狄更生（1830年12月10日－1886年5月15日），美國詩人。詩風凝煉，比喻尖新，常置格律以至語法於不顧。生前只出版過10首詩，默默無聞，死後近70年開始得到文學界的認真關注，被現代派詩人追認為先驅。與同時代的惠特曼，一同被奉為美國最偉大詩人，後世對她的詩藝、戀愛生活、性傾向多有揣測。生於麻薩諸塞州西部的安默斯特。曾祖父為安默斯特學院(Amherst College)的創辦人之一；父親為有名望的律師，是學院的司庫，也曾供職麻州普通法院、麻州參議院，以及美國眾議院。有一兄一妹，年輕時跟兄長奧斯汀的感情尤篤，二人都特立獨行，愛好文學，奧斯汀後來繼承父業，當上律師。從小接受良好教育，17歲進入女子大學，但一年後因病輟學。年輕時曾隨家人到費城、華盛頓等地探親，年長時也曾到波士頓診治眼疾，但一生大部分時間在家中渡過。跟妹妹文妮一樣，終生未婚，替多病的母親管理家事。55歲病逝，據診斷是死於布賴特氏病(Bright's disease)（一種腎病）。
年輕時的密友蘇珊·吉爾伯特(Susan Gilbert)，後來成了迪更生的嫂子。婚後，蘇珊跟迪更生為鄰，但二人常以便條通信。迪更生許多詩作的第一個讀者（超過250首）就是蘇珊，而且常因蘇珊的意見而修改詩作。迪更生現存的書信，致蘇珊的也占最多。曾說：「成為蘇珊就是想像」(To be Susan is Imagination)，迪更生對蘇珊的強烈感情是否為同性戀傾慕，成了不少學者爭論的題目。
年輕時的社交生活跟一般少女無異，且好作諧詩。未能確定迪更生何時開始認真做詩，但從1858年起，開始篩選自己的詩作，訂裝成「詩稿」(fascicle)。1860-65這幾年，是迪更生創作力最旺盛的時期，同時開始隱居，有時甚至拒見來客。對時事坦白地缺乏興趣，包括美國內戰。後世猜測，迪更生因戀愛失敗而離群索居，但並無有力證據支持這一點。其實迪更生隱居後，依然跟許多人通信（已知的通信者有99人，包括一些有名望的文人），在寫詩、管家之餘，精神上並不孤單。1862年，寫信給當時著名的雜誌編輯希金生(Thomas W. Higginson)，請他品評自己的詩作。希金生看到迪更生的天才，但由於她的詩風異於同時，始終沒有鼓勵她出版。雖然迪更生沒有正式出版她的詩，但常在書信中附上詩歌，令其詩開始在親友中流傳。
迪更生死後，文妮發現其姊留下的詩歌（共有40本詩稿，以及若干散軼的手稿）。蘇珊嘗試助她整理出版，不果。手稿落在奧斯汀的情婦托德(Mabel Loomis Todd)手上，她與希金生最終合力讓迪更生的詩歌面世。後來，迪更生的姪女瑪撒(Martha Dickinson Bianchi)，即蘇珊的女兒，也出版了迪更生的部分詩歌與書信。1955年，首部未經竄改的迪更生詩全集出版，引起文學界的關注，開始對其人其詩作全新的評估。
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. After she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence. Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime. The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends.
Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in 1886—when Lavinia, Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, both of whom heavily edited the content. A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson. Despite unfavorable reviews and skepticism of her literary prowess during the late 19th and early 20th century, critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet.
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