Imaginary Number
BY VIJAY SESHADRI
The mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
is not big and is not small.
Big and small are
comparative categories, and to what
could the mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
be compared?
Consciousness observes and is appeased.
The soul scrambles across the screes.
The soul,
like the square root of minus 1,
is an impossibility that has its uses.
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虚数 by 瑟哈德里
许剑桐译
宇宙毁灭，而这座山依然屹立
它不大也不小。
大和小是
相对概念。宇宙毁灭
而这座山依然屹立，还有什么能与它
作比较？
意识这么自语着平静下来。
灵魂爬过那些碎石堆。
灵魂，
像负一的平方根，
不存在但自有用途。
1. observe是翻译难点，我更赞成忒绿的“说”一译法，但我认为这里用了倒装，即宾语从句移前了，即上段的问句。
2. 最后一行我倾向于表达的节奏感。这一用法也体现于全诗两次出现的关系分句。
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