事实上，我从来就不在乎国歌。
The truth is, I’ve never cared for the National
假如你想一想，那不是一首好歌。
Anthem. If you think about it, it’s not a good
对于多数人，“火炮红光闪亮”
song. Too high for most of us with “the rockets
调太高了，还有炸弹。
red glare” and then there are the bombs.
（总是，总是有战争和炸弹）
(Always, always, there is war and bombs.)
有一次，我在返校活动上唱这歌，
Once, I sang it at homecoming and threw
竟然把一向稳当的高中乐队带偏了调。
even the tenacious high school band off key.
但那歌没什么意义，只是上场时
But the song didn’t mean anything, just a call
的呼召，年轻人打斗之前
to the field, something to get through before
需要进行的某些仪式。而那些
the pummeling of youth. And what of the stanzas
我们从未唱出来的段落，那第三段
we never sing, the third that mentions “no refuge
“雇工和奴隶无处可藏”又如何呢？
could save the hireling and the slave”? Perhaps,
也许，事实上，这个国家的每一首歌
the truth is, every song of this country
都有一个未被唱出的第三段，当我们
has an unsung third stanza, something brutal
盲目地唱着高调，在座位上摇晃着啤酒，
snaking underneath us as we blindly sing
盼望我们的队伍取胜时，有一种残酷
the high notes with a beer sloshing in the stands
正在我们的下面蜿蜒蛇行。不要误解我，
hoping our team wins. Don’t get me wrong, I do
我的确喜欢那旗帜，喜欢它在风中起伏，
like the flag, how it undulates in the wind
像水一样，简单，而且最美好的是，当它谦卑，
like water, elemental, and best when it’s humbled,
屈膝，被一个失去一切的人
brought to its knees, clung to by someone who
紧紧抓住时，当它不是一种武器时，
has lost everything, when it’s not a weapon,
当它闪亮时，当它被折叠地如此完美时
when it flickers, when it folds up so perfectly
你可以把它收起来，直到它被需要，直到你
you can keep it until it’s needed, until you can
又可以爱上它，直到一首歌在你嘴里
love it again, until the song in your mouth feels
犹如营养品，直到一首歌的音调
like sustenance, a song where the notes are sung
甚至被不老的森林，草木矮小的平原，
by even the ageless woods, the short-grass plains,
红河坝，一大片未被污染的土地
the Red River Gorge, the fistful of land left
歌唱，这首歌是我们与生俱来的权利，
unpoisoned, that song that’s our birthright,
在难以为继时仍可以在默默地歌唱，
that’s sung in silence when it’s too hard to go on,
它听起来就像一个人粗糙的手指缠绕着
that sounds like someone’s rough fingers weaving
另一个人的手指，好像在无底的洞穴里
into another’s, that sounds like a match being lit
一根被点燃的火柴，这首歌说我的骨
in an endless cave, the song that says my bones
是你的骨，你的骨是我的骨，
are your bones, and your bones are my bones,
这还不够吗？
and isn’t that enough?