"作者在此处引用了自己1971年的诗歌《静物》第5节,灰尘是时间的肉体/是时间的真正的血肉之躯(Dust is the flesh of time/Time's very flesh and blood)。"
"... returns to the place of one's love, year after year, in the wrong season, with no guarantee of being loved back. For, like every virtue, fidelity is of value only so long as it is instrintive or idiosyncratic, rather than rational. Besides, at a certain age, and in a certain line of work at that"
To please a shadow (late W. H. Auden), Brodsky learned to write in Auden's language. 感恩奥登,watermark 里相当一部分也是用英文写成,使我不必再受翻译之罪。
谁能不爱威尼斯
Closest Brodsky can get to writing a love story, or to confessing a love. One cannot demand more. It makes a very good read, if you know how to relish the soured moments. Immortal Venice - the fresh decay of memory in the winter air.