The Ballad of Moll Magee

Come round me, little childer;
There, don’t fling stones at me
Because I mutter as I go;
But pity Moll Magee.

My man was a poor fisher
With shore lines in the say;
My work was saltin’ herrings
The whole of the long day.

And sometimes from the saltin’ shed
I scarce could drag my feet,
Under the blessed moonlight,
Along the pebbly street.

I’d always been but weakly,
And my baby was just born;
A neighbour minded her by day,
I minded her till morn.

I lay upon my baby;
Ye little childer dear,
I looked on my cold baby
When the morn grew frosty and clear.

A weary woman sleeps so hard!
My man grew red and pale,
And gave me money, and bade me go
To my own place, Kinsale.

He drove me out and shut the door,
And gave his curse to me;
I went away in silence,
No neighbour could I see.

The windows and the doors were shut,
One star shone faint and green,
The little straws were turnin’ round
Across the bare boreen.

I went away in silence:
Beyond old Martin’s byre
I saw a kindly neighbour
Blowin’ her mornin’ fire.

She drew from me my story—
My money’s all used up,
And still, with pityin’, scornin’ eye,
She gives me bite and sup.

She says my man will surely come,
And fetch me home agin;
But always, as I’m movin’ round,
Without doors or within,

Pilin’ the wood or pilin’ the turf,
Or goin’ to the well,
I’m thinkin’ of my baby
And keenin’ to mysel’.

And sometimes I am sure she knows
When, openin’ wide His door,
God lights the stars, His candles,
And looks upon the poor.

So now, ye little childer,
Ye won’t fling stones at me;
But gather with your shinin’ looks
And pity Moll Magee.

茉儿·梅吉谣曲

围到跟前来，小孩子；
别因我边走边自语
就朝我扔来石头子；
要可怜我茉儿·梅吉。

我男人是个穷渔夫，
往海里下钓把鱼捉；
腌鲱鱼是我的活儿，
一天到晚地不停做。

整天都呆在腌鱼棚，
我几乎寸步也难挪，
有时去有福的月下
沿卵石街道踱一踱。

我一向体弱又多病，
我的宝宝又刚出生；
白天里邻居照看她，
夜里我守她到天明。

我压在宝宝的身上；
乖乖的孩儿，你们想，
到清晨结霜且明亮，
看我的宝宝已冰凉。

困乏的女人睡得死！
男人脸变红又变白，
他给我些钱，教我滚，
回我的娘家金塞尔。

他撵我出来关上门，
背后还送我一顿骂；
我一声不响走开去，
看不见一个邻人家。

家家户户的门窗闭，
只一颗孤星闪绿光，
细碎的干草翻滚着
掠过那荒凉的小巷。

我一声不响走开去：
在老马丁牛栏那边
看见个好心的邻居
正在吹柴火做早饭。

她问出了我的故事——
我的钱已不剩一个，
她眼含怜悯和轻贱，
还是给了我吃和喝。

她说我男人肯定会
来把我重新接回家；
可是，我到处忙活着，
在人家门里或檐下，

在堆垛木柴或泥炭，
或是去井边打水时，
总是在想念我宝宝，
自个儿伤心得哭泣。

有时我肯定她知道
啥时候上帝开天门，
点亮那星星，他的灯，
照看天下的受苦人。

那么现在呢，小孩子，
就不会朝我扔石子；
脸蛋儿放光围拢来，
而可怜我茉儿·梅吉。

傅浩　译

附

in the say: I guess it's 'in the sea'.

维护者注——

叶芝（1907）说此诗所本的是“在厚斯听的一篇布道文，如果我没记错的话”（《校刊本》，页843）。厚斯是都柏林附近一渔村，叶芝于1881—1883年间在那里居住。

金塞尔：柯克郡一海港。

叶芝诗集（增订本） 2018 ——

Yeats claimed that the poem was based on 'a sermon preached in the chapel at Howth if I remember rightly' (1907; VP p. 843). Howth is a fishing village on a promontory on the north side of Dublin Bay, several miles east of the centre of Dublin but inside the city limits; Yeats lived there from 1881 to 1883.

Kinsale: a seaport in County Cork.

boreen: a boreen (Irish bóithrín, 'little road, lane') is Hiberno-English for a narrow road or lane

The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, Volume I—