原野在远处。那里的世界遵循
There are fields beyond. The world there obeys
存在之道；名字们，数字们因它而行动。
The living Word; names, numbers do for this.
坟墓的十字架，坟墓的草，坟墓抛光的花岗岩
The grave’s cross, the grave’s grass, the grave’s polished granite
这些人死去我们得以活下[1]
These died that we might live
——我得以活下！——
-that I may livel
合乎习俗，但非必然；
Are customary, but not necessary;
这世界只需要死人。
This world needs only the dead.
那一切复归的、我们的
That all-replacing dream
黑暗生命等待中领先穿过的梦——
Through which our dark lives led in waiting
我醒来的梦，仍保存你们这些睡眠者的梦——
The dream I woke to, that holds you sleepers still
现在它是什么，那场战争？现在一场战争，如
What is it now, The War? A war now, numbered
你们的生命和墓茔被编号；它，人可能失去，
As your lives and graves are numbered; that one can lose,
我们已失去。
That we have lost. … Lost too, the overmastering
也已失去，那征服的需求，
Demand that delivered us from all demands
它让我们离开所有需求，除了它那
Except its metal Live-that left bare life
金属之音活下！——它留给祼露生命
The sense life made, stripping from all there is
生命形成的意义，从一切中剥离出
Its old, own sense, till simply to restore
它古老的、自己的意义：直至仅恢复一种
One: to sit reading the papers on a Sunday morning
生活——在一个周日早晨，坐着看报纸——
Was enough, an end beyond all ends, the dream
已足够，一个终结超越一切终结，那个梦
Dreams dream of. … until this, at last restored,
梦见……直至这些，最终被复原，
Was an end no longer, and the senselessness
不再是一种终结，而我们的生命从中延伸的
Our lives had reached from seemed to us the sense
无知无觉，渐渐似乎是我们已抵达的
We had reached for; and we saw that we had lived
知觉；而我们明白，我们曾经活过的
For some years longer than the rest within
几年，长于未来余生之年，
The future where, the child says, we shall live.
在未来之年，孩子说，我们将活下。
Where shall we live? For your lives are not lived
我们将活在哪里？因为你们的生命没有存活
But, there in mid-air, cease, and do not fall
而，停在空中，在那里，没坠落
And are what is not, but that might have been.
而是那不在、但可能已在之物。
And ours are-what they are; and, slowly, end.
而我们的生命是——它们所是之物：而缓缓地，终结。
Our lives have made their peace with the existence
That has leached from their old essences, in time,
我们的生命和存在已生成它们的安宁，
All that is not itself. What we remember
那存在已从它们古老的本质中，及时地，
You are: a waiting. … Without you, all you dead,
滤出所有非己之物。我们记得
What rag could wipe this scrawled slate clean of life,
你们是：一种等待。
What haunted body guess for me the world
没有你们，你们所有这些死者，
Of which this earth, this life, are one spoiled seed?
哪块破布可以擦拭这被涂鸦的石板而涤净生命，
哪具鬼魂萦绕的身体，可以为我猜想世界（在这
We endure to fulfillment; it is victory
世界之中，这大地，这生命，是一粒变质的种子）？
The living lose. And loss? The living lose
All things alike: and, recompensed, in the survival
我们忍耐，直至完成；生者
That brings them, daily, that indifference, death,
失去的是胜利。而失败？生者同样失去
Ride in the triumph of the world in chains
一切；又，得到回报，在幸存中，幸存
Their world, their triumph. … We sleep lightly; waking,
每天带给它们，世界列车的凯旋中的
Some still success, succession, weighs us down,
那种冷漠、死亡、乘坐——
Enchanting our limbs to yours-our veins averted
他们的世界，他们的凯旋。
Into another world, our vacant hope
我们轻轻入眠；醒来，
Long since fulfilled, our last necessity
某种静寂的成功物，演续，压低我们，施魔
Remembered sometimes, with the accustomed smile
我们的肢体，对着你们的肢体……我们的血管
Of cold acceptance, as the luxury our youth
被移入另一个世界，我们茫然的热望
Demanded ignorantly. Your ignorance
许久前实现，我们最后的需要
Is immortal in your deaths, a spring
有时被记得（带着冷漠接受
Of blood to which the living come, to bend
那惯有的微笑），作为我们的青春
In dry half-dreaming supplication. …
曾天真要求的奢华。
The haunters and the haunted, among graves,
你们的天真
Mirror each other sightlessly; in soundless
在你们的死亡中，在一个春天的血中
Supplication, a last unheard
永存，生者走近这春天的血，
Unison, reach to each other: Say again,
在半梦半醒的干燥求告中躬身……
Say the voices, say again
That life is–what it is not;
萦绕者和被萦绕者，在墓茔间，
That, somewhere, there is something, something;
看不见又相互映照；在无声的
That we are waiting; that we are waiting.
求告中，一种最后的、前未听到的
同音，抵达彼此：再说一遍
那些声音说着，再说一遍
生命是——它不是的东西；
在某处，有——某种东西，某种东西；
我们等待它；我们等待它。
译注
[1]此句相关于《新约全书·哥林多后书5：15》中的文字：“耶稣死去我们得以活下……”（和合本译为“并且他替众人死，是叫那些活着的人不再为自己活，乃为替他们死而复活的主活。”）