Pure? What does it mean?
The tongues of hell
Are dull, dull as the triple
Tongues of dull, fat Cerebus
Who wheezes at the gate. Incapable
Of licking clean
The aguey tendon, the sin, the sin.
The tinder cries.
The indelible smell
Of a snuffed candle!
Love, love, the low smokes roll
From me like Isadora's scarves, I'm in a fright
One scarf will catch and anchor in the wheel.
Such yellow sullen smokes
Make their own element. They will not rise,
But trundle round the globe
Choking the aged and the meek,
The weak
Hothouse baby in its crib,
The ghastly orchid
Hanging its hanging garden in the air,
Devilish leopard!
Radiation turned it white
And killed it in an hour.
Greasing the bodies of adulterers
Like Hiroshima ash and eating in.
The sin. The sin.
Darling, all night
I have been flickering, off, on, off, on.
The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss.
Three days. Three nights.
Lemon water, chicken
Water, water make me retch.
I am too pure for you or anyone.
Your body
Hurts me as the world hurts God. I am a lantern─
My head a moon
Of Japanese paper, my gold beaten skin
Infinitely delicate and infinitely expensive.
Does not my heat astound you. And my light.
All by myself I am a huge camellia
Glowing and coming and going, flush on flush.
I think I am going up,
I think I may rise─
The beads of hot metal fly, and I, love, I
Am a pure acetylene
Virgin
Attended by roses,
By kisses, by cherubim,
By whatever these pink things mean.
Not you, nor him.
Not him, nor him
(My selves dissolving, old whore petticoats)─
To Paradise.
純潔？這是什麼意思？
地獄之舌
遲鈍，鈍如三重之
舌附於遲鈍肥胖的塞伯斯身上
它在冥府的大門口喘息。無能
舔淨
寒戰的牛腱，罪惡，罪惡。
火種在泣訴。
驅不散的氣味是
撲鼻的蠟燭！
親愛的，這低低的煙霧自我身上
飄出如伊莎朵拉的圍巾。我恐怕
有條圍巾會緊緊纏住輪子。
如此黃且陰鬱的煙霧
自己衍生出元素。它們不會上昇，
只是繞著地球滾動
使年老和溫馴的人窒息，
羸弱的
溫室中的嬰兒在加欄的小床內，
慘白的果園
把空中花園懸掛於半空，
兇殘的花豹！
輻射使它變白
不到一個小時就斃命。
在通姦者的身上塗抹油脂
像廣島的灰燼，並且吞噬著。
罪惡。罪惡。
親愛的，整個晚上
我都閃爍不定，暗，明，暗，明。
被褥變得和色鬼的親吻同樣地沈重。
三天。三夜。
檸檬水，雞肉
汁，水汁使我嘔吐。
我太純潔了不適合你或任何人。
你的身體
刺傷了我就像世人刺傷了上帝。我是一盞燈籠──
我的頭是日本紙做的
月亮，黃金槌薄的皮膚
極其精美極其昂貴。
我的熱度沒有嚇壞你嗎？還有我的光。
獨處時我是株巨大的山茶
閃爍且來回走動著，枝葉茂密。
我想我在上升，
我想我可以升起──
灼熱的金屬珠子飛著，而我，親愛的，我
是純潔的乙炔
處女
由玫瑰守護著，
由吻，由帶翼的天使，
由粉紅色事物所代表的一切涵義。
不是你，不是他
不是他，也不是他
（我的自我逐漸瓦解，老妓女的襯裙）──
飛向天堂。
---
如果你想聽Sylvia Plath唸這首詩
plz check this page:
http://www.hgjh.hlc.edu.tw/~chenli/Plath.htm#Fever_103
那些情書們 (6)