諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第4章Part 5

"Through the muck and mist and glaam To our quiet cozy home, Where to singing sweet and lowRocks a cradle to and fro. Where the clock's dull monotone Telleth of the day that's done, Wherethe moonbeams hover o'er Playthings sleeping on the floor, Where my weary wee one lies ComethLady Button Eyes. "Layeth she her hands upon My dear weary little one, And those white handsoverspread Like a veil the curly head,Seem to fondle and caress Every little silken tress. Then she smooths the eyelids down Over thosetwo eyes of brown In such soothing tender wise Cometh Lady Button Eyes."
Amy sat quietly after her song, then repeated the last line before she stood, left the lean-to andwalked off a little ways to lean against a young ash. When she came back the sun was in the valleybelow and they were way above it in blue Kentucky light.
"You ain't dead yet, Lu? Lu?"
"Not yet."
"Make you a bet. You make it through the night, you make it all the way." Amy rearranged theleaves for comfort and knelt down to massage the swollen feet again. "Give these one more realgood rub," she said, and when Sethe sucked air through her teeth, she said, "Shut up. You got tokeep your mouth shut."
Careful of her tongue, Sethe bit down on her lips and let the good hands go to work to the tune of"So bees, sing soft and bees, sing low." Afterward, Amy moved to the other side of the lean-towhere, seated, she lowered her head toward her shoulder and braided her hair, saying, "Don't upand die on me in the night, you hear? I don't want to see your ugly black face hankering over you do die, just go on off somewhere where I can't see you, hear?"
"I hear," said Sethe. I'll do what I can, miss."
Sethe never expected to see another thing in this world, so when she felt toes prodding her hip ittook a while to come out of a sleep she thought was death. She sat up, stiff and shivery, while Amylooked in on her juicy back.

走過糞堆、迷霧和暮色，我們家安靜又美好， 甜甜蜜蜜輕聲唱， 把那搖籃搖啊搖。 鐘聲嘀嘀嗒， 宣佈一天過去了， 月光灑滿地， 滿地玩具都睡着。 睡吧疲倦的小寶寶， 釦子眼睛太太就來到。 把她雙手安頓好， 我的疲倦的小寶寶， 小手張開白胖胖， 好像髮網頭上罩。 寶寶惹人愛， 一頭緞帶小鬈毛。 輕輕合上黑眼睛， 兩顆明珠要關牢。 動作輕柔賽羽毛， 釦子眼睛太太就來到。
愛彌唱完歌，安靜地坐着，又重複了最後一句才站起來，然後離開披屋，走出幾步，靠在一棵小白楊上。她回來的時候，太陽已落入下面的山谷，而她們兩個高高在上，沐浴着肯塔基的藍色光芒。
“你還沒死吧，露？露？”
“還沒呢。”
“跟你打個賭。你要是挺過這一夜，你就能挺過去了。”愛彌重新把樹葉放得舒服些，又跪下來按摩塞絲的腳，“再好好揉揉它們。”塞絲倒吸了一口涼氣。愛彌説道：“閉嘴。你給我閉上你的嘴。”
塞絲小心着舌頭，咬住嘴脣，讓那雙好手跟着“小蜜蜂，輕輕唱，小蜜蜂，低聲唱”的調子繼續工作。工作結束後，愛彌到披屋的另一邊坐下，一邊歪着頭編辮子，一邊説：“可別給我死在夜裏，聽見沒有？我可不想看見你這張又醜又黑的臉勾我的魂兒。你如果真的要死了，就到我看不見的地方去死，聽見了沒有？”
“聽見了，”塞絲道，“我會盡力而為的，小姐。”
塞絲沒指望能再睜眼看到這個世界，所以當她感覺到有腳指頭踢着她的屁股時，她費了好一會兒工夫才從她以為是死亡的沉睡中醒過來。她坐起來，身體僵硬，打着哆嗦；愛彌正在查看她黏糊糊的後背。