美国国家公共电台 NPR A Century-Old Poet Looks Back — And Fearlessly Forward — In 'Purgatory'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

When did you start to write poetry?

HENRY MORGENTHAU III: It's a very delayed vocation¹, I would say. I was in my early 90s when I started.

SIMON: (Laughter).

MORGENTHAU: And now I'm - I've hit the three-digit line.

SIMON: Well - and so we're joined in the studio now by Henry Morgenthau III, who has had an extraordinarily² full life. He has produced award-winning television and documentaries. He's raised children. He's written a memoir³. And, yes, his father was that Henry Morgenthau Jr. who was secretary of treasury⁴ under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. And now, at the age of 100, Henry Morgenthau III has released his first book of poetry. It is called "A Sunday In Purgatory⁵." Thanks so much for being with us.

MORGENTHAU: Thank you.

SIMON: What made you start writing poetry?

MORGENTHAU: I think there were a number of reasons, maybe in a conflict. First of all, I wanted to establish my own identity - not simply to be a member of a distinguished⁶ family. And at the same time, I wanted to recall some of the events that I was privileged to observe in making history, like the - my poem "A Terrific Headache," which has to do with my father having dinner with Roosevelt the night before he died.

SIMON: Yeah. I don't get to talk to a lot of people who knew Franklin D. Roosevelt.

MORGENTHAU: Well, I was brought up on Roosevelt. My father's whole life was tied up with Roosevelt. And I remember that he would come to our house for dinner. And I remember leaning over the banisters from upstairs and hearing him talk and tell stories. And he was always a larger-than-life person.

SIMON: Yeah. I would like you to read one of your poems. What about the title poem, "Sunday In Purgatory?"

MORGENTHAU: (Reading) A voluntary inmate⁷ immured⁸ in a last resort for seniors - there are constant reminders⁹ the reaper¹⁰ is lurking¹¹ around the corner. I'm at home - very much at home - here at Ingleside at Rock Creek¹², distant three miles from my caring daughter. At Ingleside, a faith-based community for vintage Presbyterians, I'm an old Jew. But that's another story.

I'm not complaining. With so much I want to do - doing it at my pace slowly. Anticipation¹³ of death is simply like looking for a new job. Then, suddenly, on a Sunday, talking recklessly while eating brunch¹⁴, a gristly piece of meat lodged¹⁵ in my throat. I struggled for breath, too annoyed to be scared. Someone pounded my back to no avail.

Out of nowhere, an alert, pint-sized waiter performed the Heimlich maneuver¹⁶. I don't believe it will work. It does. Uncorked, I'm freed. Looking up, I see the concerned visage and reverse color of a retired¹⁷ Navy chaplain, pinch-hitting as God's messenger for the day. Had he come to perform the last rites¹⁸ to ease my passage from this world to the hereafter? Don't jump to conclusions.

In World War II, on active duty, he learned the himmlisch as well as the Heimlich. Knowing it to be best administered to a standing¹⁹ victim, he rushed to intervene. On this day, I'm twice blessed with the kindness of strangers.

SIMON: Wow. What can a poem do that other forms of expression may not?

MORGENTHAU: Poems - most poems - my poems - are really metaphor²⁰. They're also song. The poetry of the Western world began in ancient Greece. A poet would recite his poem with an instrumental accompaniment. And that goes on to this day and into a world, actually, that I'm not familiar with, hip-hop, where they do just that. I think hip-hop is doing a lot to make poetry accessible and popular with a much wider audience that it has recently in this country.

SIMON: A lot of your poems are about looking over the ledge²¹ to whatever's next.

MORGENTHAU: About death, yes.

SIMON: Yeah - about death. Yeah.

MORGENTHAU: I do think about death. I live in a community where people are, as I said in this poem, kind of in a purgatory, a waiting place for the end - people passing away just about every week. So I think about it. But I've had more than my time. And it's not something that frightens me. And, actually, getting it out on paper is a relief.

SIMON: I feel moved to ask you this question, having read your poems. What's the key to a happy life?

MORGENTHAU: A key to a happy life is perhaps living long enough to look back on things that have happened because anticipating things that I'm going to do or want to do is always clouded with a lot of anxiety.

SIMON: What makes you happy now?

MORGENTHAU: I'm probably not happy most of that time. I think, maybe, the thing that makes me happy is actually getting these things out so that I can distance myself from them.

SIMON: Well, they're wonderful poems. Thank you.

MORGENTHAU: Thank you. It's my privilege.

SIMON: Henry Morgenthau III - he's the author, at the age of 100, of his first book of poetry, "A Sunday In Purgatory."

1 vocation   

n.职业，行业

参考例句：

• She struggled for years to find her true vocation.她多年来苦苦寻找真正适合自己的职业。
• She felt it was her vocation to minister to the sick.她觉得照料病人是她的天职。

2 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

3 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 purgatory   

n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的

参考例句：

• Every step of the last three miles was purgatory.最后3英里时每一步都像是受罪。
• Marriage,with peace,is this world's paradise;with strife,this world's purgatory.和谐的婚姻是尘世的乐园，不和谐的婚姻则是人生的炼狱。

6 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

7 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

8 immured   

v.禁闭，监禁( immure的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was like a prisoner so long immured that freedom dazes him. 她象一个长年累月被关闭的囚犯，自由使她迷乱茫然。 来自辞典例句
• He immured himself in a small room to work undisturbed. 他自己关在小屋里埋头工作，以免受到骚扰。 来自辞典例句

9 reminders   

n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。

10 reaper   

n.收割者，收割机

参考例句：

• The painting is organized about a young reaper enjoying his noonday rest.这幅画的画面设计成一个年轻的割禾人在午间休息。
• A rabbit got caught in the blades of the reaper.一只兔子被卷到收割机的刀刃中去了。

11 lurking   

潜在

参考例句：

• Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的，想干什么？
• There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

13 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

14 brunch   

n.早午餐

参考例句：

• They eat much the same thing for brunch every day.每天早午餐他们总是吃同样的东西。
• What did you have for your brunch?你早午饭都吃些什么？

15 lodged   

v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• The certificate will have to be lodged at the registry. 证书必须存放在登记处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Our neighbours lodged a complaint against us with the police. 我们的邻居向警方控告我们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

17 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

18 rites   

仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to administer the last rites to sb 给某人举行临终圣事
• He is interested in mystic rites and ceremonies. 他对神秘的仪式感兴趣。

19 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

20 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

21 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。