Time present and time past

一．

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

现在的与过去的时间

If all time is eternally present

都可能存在于未来的时间中

All time is unredeemable.

未来的时间已包含着过去。

What might have been is an abstraction

如果所有的时间都永不消失

Remaining a perpetual possibility

那所有的时间也都无可挽留。

Only in a world of speculation.

可能曾经存在的事物也许只是一抹抽象

What might have been and what has been

在世界的影像中，

Point to one end, which is always present.

永远保存着一种真实的可能。

Footfalls echo in the memory

那曾经可能存在的与已经存在的

Down the passage which we did not take

指向一个一直存在着的终点。

Towards the door we never opened

Into the rose-garden. My words echo

脚步声回响在记忆中

Thus, in your mind.

走向那条我们从未走过的路，

                              But to what purpose

通往那道我们从未打开的

Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves

玫瑰园的门。于是，我的话

I do not know.

回响在你的脑海。

                        Other echoes

但出于什么缘由

Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow?

要去惊扰起一碗玫瑰花瓣上的尘土？

Quick, said the bird, find them, find them,

我不知道

Round the corner. Through the first gate,

别的回声

Into our first world, shall we follow

也栖息于这花园。我们要跟上它吗？

The deception of the thrush? Into our first world.

快，鸟儿说，找到它们，找到它们，

There they were, dignified, invisible,

在花园的角落里。穿过第一道门

Moving without pressure, over the dead leaves,

进入我们的第一个世界，我们要追随

In the autumn heat, through the vibrant air,

那画眉鸟的诡计？进入我们的第一个世界。

And the bird called, in response to

它们在那里，庄严而无形，

The unheard music hidden in the shrubbery,

无痕地飘过枯死的叶子，

And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the roses

在秋热中，穿过振动的空气，

Had the look of flowers that are looked at.

鸟儿鸣叫着，应和着

There they were as our guests, accepted and accepting.

那隐藏在灌木丛中的无声的音乐。

So we moved, and they, in a formal pattern,

不可见的一瞥闪过，因为玫瑰

Along the empty alley, into the box circle,

露出被人看到过的神色。

To look down into the drained pool.

那里，它们作为客人被我们接待，并接待我们。

Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged,

我们继续前行，——它们严肃有礼

And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight,

站在空空的小径两旁——进入黄杨木围栏，

And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,

俯视被抽干的水池。

The surface glittered out of heart of light,

干涸的水池，干燥的水泥，褐色的池沿，

And they were behind us, reflected in the pool.

水池慢慢地注满阳光下不可见的水，

Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.

睡莲升起来，静静地，

Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,

水面闪烁，在内心的光芒之外，

Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.

它们在我们身后，在水池中留下倒影。

Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind

一块云飘过，水池空了。

Cannot bear very much reality.

去吧，鸟儿说，因为树叶里装满了童年，

Time past and time future

藏着兴奋，还有笑声。

What might have been and what has been

去吧，去吧，去吧，鸟儿说，人们

Point to one end, which is always present.

承受不了太多的现实。

过去和未来

那可能存在过的和已经存在的

II

指向同一个一直存在着的终点。

Garlic and sapphires in the mud

Clot the bedded axle-tree.

二．

The trilling wire in the blood

Sings below inveterate scars

大蒜和蓝宝石陷入泥里

Appeasing long forgotten wars.

阻塞了马车的轮轴。

The dance along the artery

颤抖的血液中的琴弦

The circulation of the lymph

在顽固的伤疤下歌唱

Are figured in the drift of stars

平息着那久已忘却的战争。

Ascend to summer in the tree

动脉里的舞蹈

We move above the moving tree

淋巴中的循环

In light upon the figured leaf

被定格于星辰的漂流中

And hear upon the sodden floor

在树梢中攀向夏天

Below, the boarhound and the boar

我们在移动的树的上空移动

Pursue their pattern as before

在斑驳的树叶上的光芒里

But reconciled among the stars.

我们在潮湿的地面上方倾听

下面，猎犬和野猪

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

延续古老的生存模式

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

却在星群中归于和解。

But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,

Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,

在旋转的世界的静止点上。

Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,

没有肉体，也没有精灵；

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

没有来处，也没有去向；在那静止点上，只有舞蹈，

I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.

没有追捕，也没有逃离。

And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

也不要说是一成不变，

The inner freedom from the practical desire,

当过去与未来相聚

The release from action and suffering, release from the inner

既无来处，也无去向，

And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded

既无上升，也无下降

By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving,

这一点——静止的一点——之外，

Erhebung without motion, concentration

世界上没有舞蹈；这里只有舞蹈。

Without elimination, both a new world

我才可以说，我们存在着；但我说不出是哪里。

And the old made explicit, understood

也说不出，有多久；因为它被置于时间之中。

In the completion of its partial ecstasy,

从现世欲望中脱身而出的自由，

The resolution of its partial horror.

从奔波与苦难中获得解脱，内在的解脱，

Yet the enchainment of past and future

虽然身外的逼迫，依然环绕，

Woven in the weakness of the changing body,

在恩宠的笼罩下，一道白光在静止中挪移，

Protects mankind from heaven and damnation

上升但无须运动，凝缩

Which flesh cannot endure.

但无须消减，

                                          Time past and time future

在它独特的狂喜中

Allow but a little consciousness.

当它特有的恐惧的消散时，新的世界

To be conscious is not to be in time

与旧世界直接达成谅解。

But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden,

过去与未来的链条依然

The moment in the arbour where the rain beat,

在编织，在柔弱的不断变化的身体中，

The moment in the draughty church at smokefall

保护人类远离天堂和诅咒，

Be remembered; involved with past and future.

肉体无法承受它们。

Only through time time is conquered.

过往和未来的时间

都只接纳一点意识。

意识不等于处于时间之中

III

但只有在时间之中，玫瑰花园中的时刻，

被风吹打的凉亭中的时刻，

Here is a place of disaffection

畅通的教堂笼罩在烟雾中的时刻

Time before and time after

才被记住；过去与未来交汇。

In a dim light: neither daylight

只有通过时间，时间才被征服。

Investing form with lucid stillness

Turning shadow into transient beauty

With slow rotation suggesting permanence

三．

Nor darkness to purify the soul

Emptying the sensual with deprivation

这是一个遗恨之地

Cleansing affection from the temporal.

此刻之前与之后

Neither plenitude nor vacancy. Only a flicker

在暗淡的光线中：日光不会

Over the strained time-ridden faces

赋予形体明澈和宁静

Distracted from distraction by distraction

让阴影化为哪怕短暂的美丽

Filled with fancies and empty of meaning

让缓慢的旋转传递永恒的气息

Tumid apathy with no concentration

黑暗也不会洁净灵魂

Men and bits of paper, whirled by the cold wind

去除肉体的享乐

That blows before and after time,

净化尘世中的情感。

Wind in and out of unwholesome lungs

既无圆满也无空缺。只有一丝微光

Time before and time after.

闪过扭曲的饱经沧桑的脸

Eructation of unhealthy souls

从一张转移到另一张，再到另一张

Into the faded air, the torpid

充满幻象又空洞无物

Driven on the wind that sweeps the gloomy hills of London,

虚肿冷漠，无所专注

Hampstead and Clerkenwell, Campden and Putney,

人们与纸屑，在冷风中旋转

Highgate, Primrose and Ludgate. Not here

风吹在时间之前与之后。

Not here the darkness, in this twittering world.

空气在孱弱的肺中出入

过去的和未来的时间

    Descend lower, descend only

虚弱的灵魂嗳出的麻木

Into the world of perpetual solitude,

进入枯萎的空气，

World not world, but that which is not world,

被风裹挟着，掠过伦敦阴冷的山冈，

Internal darkness, deprivation

掠过汉姆斯蒂德和克拉肯威尔，开普敦和普特尼

And destitution of all property,

海格特、普林姆罗斯和拉德盖特。

Desiccation of the world of sense,

并非这里

Evacuation of the world of fancy,

并非这里，黑暗，在这个喋喋不休的世界里。

Inoperancy of the world of spirit;

降得更低，只会降入

This is the one way, and the other

世界永久的孤独中，

Is the same, not in movement

世界不是世界，它只是那个不是世界的世界，

But abstention from movement; while the world moves

内在的黑暗，剥夺，

In appetency, on its metalled ways

贫困，一无所有，

Of time past and time future.

感觉枯竭的世界，

幻象撤离的世界，

精神无能的世界；

IV

就是这条路，另一条

也一样，不是在运动中

Time and the bell have buried the day,

而是在对运动的放弃中；世界依赖

The black cloud carries the sun away.

本能，在它的碎石路上前行，

Will the sunflower turn to us, will the clematis

在过去的和未来的时间里。

Stray down, bend to us; tendril and spray

Clutch and cling?

四．

    Chill

Fingers of yew be curled

时间和晚钟埋葬了白天，

Down on us? After the kingfisher's wing

乌云挟走太阳。

Has answered light to light, and is silent, the light is still

向日葵会转向我们吗？铁线莲

At the still point of the turning world.

会侧身偏向我们吗？用卷须，花束，

紧紧抓住，贴住我们？

寒冷的

V

紫杉的手指会弯曲着

垂向我们吗？翠鸟的翅膀

Words move, music moves

以光线回答光线，之后是沉寂，光静止了

Only in time; but that which is only living

在旋转的世界的静止点上。

Can only die. Words, after speech, reach

Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern,

Can words or music reach

五．

The stillness, as a Chinese jar still

Moves perpetually in its stillness.

语言行进，音乐流淌

Not the stillness of the violin, while the note lasts,

只在时间之中；但只有那活着的

Not that only, but the co-existence,

才能死亡。语言，在言说之后，抵达

Or say that the end precedes the beginning,

进入沉默。

And the end and the beginning were always there

只有获得形式和道路，

Before the beginning and after the end.

语言或音乐才能抵达

And all is always now. Words strain,

宁静，像一只中国瓷瓶

Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,

在静止中运动不息。

Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,

不是小提琴的静止，而是绕梁的旋律，

Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,

不仅如此，那是一种共存，

Will not stay still. Shrieking voices

或者说，结局抵达开始，

Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering,

而结局与开始一直在那里

Always assail them. The Word in the desert

在开始之前与结局之后。

Is most attacked by voices of temptation,

一切都是现在。由于负重

The crying shadow in the funeral dance,

语言紧张，开裂，甚至破碎，

The loud lament of the disconsolate chimera.

在重压之下，跌倒，划走，消散

不再静止。尖叫声，

    The detail of the pattern is movement,

责骂声，嘲笑声，或哪怕低语声，

As in the figure of the ten stairs.

都在质问它们。世界在一片荒漠中

Desire itself is movement

被诱惑击打，

Not in itself desirable;

死亡的舞蹈中哭喊的影子，

Love is itself unmoving,

凯米亚拉孤单的高声悲号。

Only the cause and end of movement,

这过程的细处就是运动，

Timeless, and undesiring

如同十级台阶所体现的形状。

Except in the aspect of time

欲望本身就是运动。

Caught in the form of limitation

但并非值得想望；

Between un-being and being.

爱本自静止不动，

Sudden in a shaft of sunlight

它是运动的起因和终结，

Even while the dust moves

超越时间和欲望

There rises the hidden laughter

除非时间被确定的形式

Of children in the foliage

定格在存在和非存在之间，

Quick now, here, now, always—

爱才会从静止中脱身。

Ridiculous the waste sad time

突然，在一道日光中

Stretching before and after.

——即使此刻灰尘扬起——

传来隐藏在树叶中的

孩子们的笑声

就在此刻，这里，此刻，始终

荒谬可笑的是那被虚度的悲伤的时间

它伸展着，向前向后。