Where the lizard ran to its little prey

蜥蜴扑向小小的猎物

And a man on a horse rode by in a day

有一天骑者飞驰而过

They set their hangars: a continent

他们建好机库：一个大陆

Taught its conscripts its unloved intent

教新兵理解它那不可爱的意图

In the scrawled fire, the singing lead—

在这乱窜的火中，歌唱的铅弹——

Protocols of the quick and dead.

是活者和死者拟定的草案。

The wounded gunner, his missions done,

受伤的炮手，他的使命已了结，

Fired absently in the the range's sun;

还在茫然地向靶场的太阳射击；

And, chained with cartridges, the clerk

那职员挂着墨盒好像锁链，

Sat sweating at his war-time work.

浑身流汗坐着做战时工作。

The cold flights bombed—again, again—

一次又一次——冷酷的机群，

The craters of the lunar plain....

炸出月球平原上的巨坑……

All this was priceless: men were paid

这一切是无价的：人拿了钱

For these rehearsals of the raids

就是为了演习空袭投弹，

That used up cities at a rate

空袭消耗城市，真是神速，

That left the coals without a State

只留下炭块，没有一个国家

To call another's; till the worse

还想要别人的炭；直到一边最终，

Ceded at last, without remorse,

落败，毫无悔恨地让出

Their conquests to their conquerors.

他们征服的地方给征服者。

The equations were without two powers.

方程式中不可能有两个大国。

Profits and death grow marginal:

利润和死亡一齐变得微不足道：

Only the mourning and the mourned recall

只有哀悼者和被哀悼者会去想

The wars we lose, the wars we win;

我们输掉的战争，我们赢得的战争；

And the world is—what it has been.

世界依旧——一如往昔时辰。

The lizard's tongue licks angrily

蜥蜴的舌头愤怒地舔着

The shattered membranes of the fly.

苍蝇那已经破碎的翅膜。