此岁将息，寒冬沉降，

Now winter downs the dying of the year,

大雪交割年末残章。

And night is all a settlement of snow;

街道绵软，但那室内灯光聚集，

From the soft street the rooms of houses show

锋砺那空气，

A gathered light, a shapen atmosphere,

就像未及坚厚的结霜冰面，

Like frozen-over lakes whose ice is thin

轻微振扰仍可穿入水底。

And still allows some stirring down within.

我已识得那水畔劲风，

I’ve known the wind by water banks to shake

摇木叶坠落结霜，

The late leaves down, which frozen where they fell

就像疯魔之舞者，整个冬天振翅翩飞，

And held in ice as dancers in a spell

进入小湖中央；

Fluttered all winter long into a lake;

葬于一种黑暗的坠落姿态，

Graved on the dark in gestures of descent,

为自身造就完美庙堂。

They seemed their own most perfect monument.

蕨草的死亡功德圆满

There was perfection in the death of ferns

倚脆弱面颊于顽石之上，

Which laid their fragile cheeks against the stone

岁及百万，目睹巨大猛犸一去不还。

A million years. Great mammoths overthrown

它们曾经从容走过漫长逆旅，

Composedly have made their long sojourns,

就像耐心之神的宫殿，

Like palaces of patience, in the gray

走在千篇一律的灰色冰原。

And changeless lands of ice. And at Pompeii

还有那庞贝古城，

The little dog lay curled and did not rise

小狗倦缩不起，

But slept the deeper as the ashes rose

越厚的灰，越深地眠。

And found the people incomplete, and froze

他们发现的残缺的人体，

The random hands, the loose unready eyes

手势冻结在最后时间。

Of men expecting yet another sun

那眼神迷离无备

To do the shapely thing they had not done.

——他们还在期望又一次日出，

把手中美妙的事儿做完。

These sudden ends of time must give us pause.

We fray into the future, rarely wrought

突然的终结提醒我们暂停脚步。

Save in the tapestries of afterthought.

我们吵吵闹闹地进入明天，

More time, more time. Barrages of applause

有多少可以织进那“后见之明”的锦缎？

Come muffled from a buried radio.

我们需要多些时间，多些时间。

The New-year bells are wrangling with the snow.

欢呼的弹幕，从雪埋的收音机中传出，

有些喑哑，

而那钟声正在缠斗漫天的飞雪，

欢庆新年。