一樵先生:
承示大作,拜读甚佩。前次所示集句及此次《太空》诗 已抄出转寄李和生 兄,并加有拙跋,希望能于不久后刊出也,《论坛》 近复脱期,先生如有论文,祈能赐刊。
此次寄来之尊稿,复印精美,不知是何种copier所印?友人称可能是xerox duplicator,不知价格如何?通常可印多少份,每份需成本多少?如承赐告,至为感激!因纵颇欲自购一件,觉可省抄写之劳也。
今年上半年纵已受聘将去The University of Wisconsin教书半年。
大作《太空》极有意思,以科学家之观感写新诗,中国亦不甚多,Emerson有句云:
Atom from atom yawns as far
As moon from earth, or star from star.
Of science, and in little have the whole——
Even as the redness and the rose are one,
So with the body one thing is the soul.
较与公孙龙所云“白者非马也。白马者,马与白也,马与白马也,故曰白马非马也”相较,亦颇有趣。中国似无Lucretius式咏物理之长诗。
诗人于宇宙自然现象,自有一种敏锐感,前读拉丁诗人Lucretius(95 B.C.—52 B.C.)咏自然之诗作,中有云:
And when the qualities like bees on wing,
Having a moment clustered, cease to cling,
As the thing dies without its qualities,
So die the qualities without the thing.
此与中国第五世纪左右之神灭论颇相似。《弘明集》所引称:“犹火之在木,其生必存,其毁必灭。形离则神散而罔寄,木朽则火寂而靡托,理之然矣。”其后范缜所谓:“舍利无刀,舍刀无利。未闻刀没而利存,岂容形亡而神在。”Lucretius又云:
Where is the coolness when no cool winds blow?
Where is the music when the lute lies low?
Are not the redness and red rose one.
And the snow's whiteness one thing with the snow?
Even so, now mark me, here we reach the goal
(整理者按:原信至此)