Charles Simic
马慧元的书里，读到西米克(Charles Simic)，一击而中的感觉。他说：“所有的艺术都在表现绝境，而这正是吸引艺术家的地方，尤其是诗人。世界很大，诗人孤单，诗无非是一些声音碎片，一支笔被沉默的夜色包围。而诗拦住时间，让读者在其中环视。”
西米克是塞尔维亚人，生于贝尔格莱德，少年时随家人移居美国并用英语写诗和诗评，获了普利策诗歌奖，曾是《巴黎评论》的诗歌编辑，2007年任美国国会图书馆的桂冠诗人，风格归于新超现实主义又或深度意象派。
流传最多的他的一句话是：“在空瓶子里，我建造灯塔，而其他人建造船只。” (Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all others were making ships.) ——听起来澎湃而惊心，使人想起幼儿的涂画，勇敢和无畏。
西米克多产，同时也翻译介绍了许多塞尔维亚诗人到英语界。
米洛拉德•帕维奇第一次进入英语界，便是在1970年西米克翻译出版的一本书里：《塞尔维亚四诗人》（Four Serbian Poets），另外三位是Ivan Lalić, Jovan Hristić, Ljuba Simonović。西米克在其中翻译了帕维奇的五首诗。随后，他翻译了帕维奇的《Holy Mass for Relja Krilatica》，后来收入了他编撰的一本塞尔维亚诗歌选集《The Horse Has Six Legs》当中。
西米克从未用塞尔维亚文写作，十六岁之前不会英文的他，对用英文写作的解释是：“相让自己的朋友和喜欢的女孩看得懂。”
可惜西米克的中译太少。但他零零散散可见的句子，就已有美妙体会：“我一生都在追寻语言，所以我知道语言的边际和深渊。比如信仰和爱情，那是诗歌永远不能企及的深处。”
Charles Simic quotes
If I believe in anything, it is in the dark night of the soul. Awe is my religion, and mystery is its church.
Words make love on the page like flies in the summer heat and the poet is merely the bemused spectator.
Silence is the only language god speaks.
When you play chess alone it's always your move.
Sleeplessness is like metaphysics. Be there.
A poem is an invitation to a voyage. As in life, we travel to see fresh sights.
Only poetry can measure the distance between ourselves and the Other.
"Seventh Song" The Holy Mass for Relja Krilatica, Milorad Pavic (trans. Charles Simic)
Rejoice eleventh finger reckoner of stars
For you are the one exiled into the light
Your mind is made up with angelic speed
While the wings were given to you to catch him
We threw him on heaven's shores like a crown
To listen to the moon's breathing
Where he falls down we'll build a house
Go now and bring him back
In a sleeve full of moonlight
We are teaching you to bear God's beard
To crawl out among the stars
Like a worm from an iron walnut into the flesh of the wind
But you sit in your heart above all nights and fish
We teach you to spit at the point of galactic balance
Between the pull of the moon and the pull of the earth
But you've caught the mole of heavens
Sewed feathers in her back
And wait for wings to sprout
You teach her to tell time
Terrestrial time makes her hiccup
Neither your last name's name nor your first name's nickname
西米克是塞尔维亚人，生于贝尔格莱德，少年时随家人移居美国并用英语写诗和诗评，获了普利策诗歌奖，曾是《巴黎评论》的诗歌编辑，2007年任美国国会图书馆的桂冠诗人，风格归于新超现实主义又或深度意象派。
流传最多的他的一句话是：“在空瓶子里，我建造灯塔，而其他人建造船只。” (Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all others were making ships.) ——听起来澎湃而惊心，使人想起幼儿的涂画，勇敢和无畏。
西米克多产，同时也翻译介绍了许多塞尔维亚诗人到英语界。
米洛拉德•帕维奇第一次进入英语界，便是在1970年西米克翻译出版的一本书里：《塞尔维亚四诗人》（Four Serbian Poets），另外三位是Ivan Lalić, Jovan Hristić, Ljuba Simonović。西米克在其中翻译了帕维奇的五首诗。随后，他翻译了帕维奇的《Holy Mass for Relja Krilatica》，后来收入了他编撰的一本塞尔维亚诗歌选集《The Horse Has Six Legs》当中。
西米克从未用塞尔维亚文写作，十六岁之前不会英文的他，对用英文写作的解释是：“相让自己的朋友和喜欢的女孩看得懂。”
可惜西米克的中译太少。但他零零散散可见的句子，就已有美妙体会：“我一生都在追寻语言，所以我知道语言的边际和深渊。比如信仰和爱情，那是诗歌永远不能企及的深处。”
Charles Simic quotes
If I believe in anything, it is in the dark night of the soul. Awe is my religion, and mystery is its church.
Words make love on the page like flies in the summer heat and the poet is merely the bemused spectator.
Silence is the only language god speaks.
When you play chess alone it's always your move.
Sleeplessness is like metaphysics. Be there.
A poem is an invitation to a voyage. As in life, we travel to see fresh sights.
Only poetry can measure the distance between ourselves and the Other.
"Seventh Song" The Holy Mass for Relja Krilatica, Milorad Pavic (trans. Charles Simic)
Rejoice eleventh finger reckoner of stars
For you are the one exiled into the light
Your mind is made up with angelic speed
While the wings were given to you to catch him
We threw him on heaven's shores like a crown
To listen to the moon's breathing
Where he falls down we'll build a house
Go now and bring him back
In a sleeve full of moonlight
We are teaching you to bear God's beard
To crawl out among the stars
Like a worm from an iron walnut into the flesh of the wind
But you sit in your heart above all nights and fish
We teach you to spit at the point of galactic balance
Between the pull of the moon and the pull of the earth
But you've caught the mole of heavens
Sewed feathers in her back
And wait for wings to sprout
You teach her to tell time
Terrestrial time makes her hiccup
Neither your last name's name nor your first name's nickname
