I

一．

I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river

我对众神知之甚少；但我想这条河

Is a strong brown god—sullen, untamed and intractable,

就是一尊孔武骄傲的神——易怒，粗野不羁，

Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;

耐心有限，最初被作为一条边界；

Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;

实用，但不值得信赖，作为本地贸易的搬运工；

Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.

桥梁建造者所必须面对的唯一麻烦制造者。

The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten

麻烦一旦被征服，这尊骄傲的大神一度

By the dwellers in cities—ever, however, implacable.

被城里的居民遗忘——但是，它却一度不肯安歇，

Keeping his seasons and rages, destroyer, reminder

持续着它的习性和怒气，作为一个破坏者，一个

Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated

人们巴不得忘记的那些历史的提示者。得不到

By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.

机器崇拜者们的尊崇和供奉，它等待着，观望着，等待着。

His rhythm was present in the nursery bedroom,

它的节律曾出现在托儿所的卧室里，

In the rank ailanthus of the April dooryard,

出现在四月庭院里茂盛的臭椿树里，

In the smell of grapes on the autumn table,

在秋天餐桌上葡萄的气味中，

And the evening circle in the winter gaslight.

在冬日夜晚煤气灯下的光圈里。

    The river is within us, the sea is all about us;

河流在我们中间，大海则环绕在我们四周；

The sea is the land's edge also, the granite

海也是大地的边缘，它的波浪

Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses

冲进岸边的花岗岩，把早先的和现在的

Its hints of earlier and other creation:

造物的象征抛了上来：

The starfish, the horseshoe crab, the whale's backbone;

海星，鲎鱼，鲸鱼的脊骨；

The pools where it offers to our curiosity

海边的水潭里，留给我们好奇心的是

The more delicate algae and the sea anemone.

更纤巧的海藻和海葵。

It tosses up our losses, the torn seine,

它抛起我们遗弃之物，撕烂的渔网，

The shattered lobsterpot, the broken oar

破碎的捕虾篓，折断的船桨，

And the gear of foreign dead men. The sea has many voices,

和异域死者的衣物。大海有很多种声音，

Many gods and many voices.

很多种神明，很多种声音。

                                              The salt is on the briar rose,

　　　　　　　　　海盐凝结在石楠花上，

The fog is in the fir trees.

                                        The sea howl

雾霭弥漫在冷杉林中。

And the sea yelp, are different voices

大海呼号

Often together heard: the whine in the rigging,

大海狂吠，都是不同的声音

The menace and caress of wave that breaks on water,

常常被同时听到：帆索的哀鸣，

The distant rote in the granite teeth,

波涛翻滚在海面上的威吓与爱抚，

And the wailing warning from the approaching headland

远处花岗岩齿缝中的拍击声，

Are all sea voices, and the heaving groaner

以及逼近的海岬上聚集的呼号和警报

Rounded homewards, and the seagull:

都是大海的声音，是归途中

And under the oppression of the silent fog

起伏的叹息。而海鸥是：

The tolling bell

在沉默的雾气的压迫下

Measures time not our time, rung by the unhurried

鸣叫的钟——

Ground swell, a time

被不紧不慢地起伏的波涛所敲响，它所测量时间

Older than the time of chronometers, older

不是我们的时间，一种

Than time counted by anxious worried women

比计时器中的时间更古老的时间；一种

Lying awake, calculating the future,

比妇人们焦虑不安地计算着的时间更古老的时间，

Trying to unweave, unwind, unravel

她们夜不成寐，计算未来，

And piece together the past and the future,

试图把过去与未来拆开，松开，解开，

Between midnight and dawn, when the past is all deception,

再重新拼凑起来。

The future futureless, before the morning watch

在午夜与黎明之间，当过去成为一场欺骗，

When time stops and time is never ending;

未来没有未来，在黎明守望之前

And the ground swell, that is and was from the beginning,

时间停住，而又永无终点；

Clangs

波涛起伏，不论过去还是现在，都始于起点，

The bell.

钟声

轰鸣。

II

二．

Where is there an end of it, the soundless wailing,

The silent withering of autumn flowers

在那无声的哀号停歇的地方，

Dropping their petals and remaining motionless;

沉默枯萎的秋日玫瑰

Where is there an end to the drifting wreckage,

抖落花瓣，静默不动，

The prayer of the bone on the beach, the unprayable

在飘荡的海难残骸消失的地方，

Prayer at the calamitous annunciation?

是为岸边尸骨的祈祷，那不幸的

天使报喜节上的不可祈祷的祈祷？

    There is no end, but addition: the trailing

没有终点，只有不断的增加：接踵而来的

Consequence of further days and hours,

时日所产出的绵延的结果。

While emotion takes to itself the emotionless

在这时日中，因多年生活于破败中

Years of living among the breakage

感情，曾是最可靠的信仰，

Of what was believed in as the most reliable—

最终把自己带向无情，

And therefore the fittest for renunciation.

因而变成最应该放弃的。

最后增加上来的，是被挫败的

    There is the final addition, the failing

骄傲和因失去力量而心生怨恨，

Pride or resentment at failing powers,

是因无所归属而可能被忽略的虔诚，

The unattached devotion which might pass for devotionless,

是在一个飘荡的破漏的船只里

In a drifting boat with a slow leakage,

沉默地忍受上一个天使报喜节里

The silent listening to the undeniable

无法拒绝的喧闹的钟声。

Clamour of the bell of the last annunciation.

哪里是渔夫们的归宿？他们驶入

    Where is the end of them, the fishermen sailing

风的尾端，雾在那里开始退去。

Into the wind's tail, where the fog cowers?

我们无法想象一个没有海洋的时代，

We cannot think of a time that is oceanless

或者一个没有漂着废弃物的大海，

Or of an ocean not littered with wastage

或者一个没有指望的未来，

Or of a future that is not liable

像过去一样，没有目的地。

Like the past, to have no destination.

当东北风减弱，吹过一直没有变化、

未被侵蚀的浅堤，我们不得不想象他们

    We have to think of them as forever bailing,

一如既往地戽水，布网，拉网，

Setting and hauling, while the North East lowers

或者领取卖鱼钱，在坞口晾晒船帆，

Over shallow banks unchanging and erosionless

而不应该想象他们会有一次毫无收获的出海，

Or drawing their money, drying sails at dockage;

或者捞起经不起称量的一网。

Not as making a trip that will be unpayable

For a haul that will not bear examination.

这无声的哀号，没完没了，

凋谢的花，也落个没完，

    There is no end of it, the voiceless wailing,

不痛也不动的痛苦的运动，没有终了，

No end to the withering of withered flowers,

大海的漂移，残留物的飘荡，也没有终了，

To the movement of pain that is painless and motionless,

尸骨向死神——它的上帝的祈祷，永无终了。只有天使报喜日

To the drift of the sea and the drifting wreckage,

那艰难的、无望的祈祷。

The bone's prayer to Death its God. Only the hardly, barely prayable

似乎，当一个人变老，

Prayer of the one Annunciation.

他的过去就会变成另一番模样，不再只是一个事件序列，

甚至不是发展：在肤浅的进化论的

    It seems, as one becomes older,

鼓舞下，最近积累起来的偏见谬误，

That the past has another pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence—

按照流行的观念，变成一种否认过去的方式。

Or even development: the latter a partial fallacy

幸福的时刻——不是感觉良好，

Encouraged by superficial notions of evolution,

成就与富足，安全或情爱，

Which becomes, in the popular mind, a means of disowning the past.

甚至不是一席欢宴，而是突降的天启——

The moments of happiness—not the sense of well-being,

我们曾拥有经验，但却遗失了其意义，

Fruition, fulfilment, security or affection,

而对意义的接近修复了经验，

Or even a very good dinner, but the sudden illumination—

并以另一种形式，超越了意义，

We had the experience but missed the meaning,

我们被指派给幸福。正如我之前所说

And approach to the meaning restores the experience

在意义中苏醒的经验，

In a different form, beyond any meaning

不只是一个人的经验，

We can assign to happiness. I have said before

而属于很多代人——不要忘记

That the past experience revived in the meaning

有些事也许不必说出：

Is not the experience of one life only

偷偷翻看那被确信的历史记录

But of many generations—not forgetting

的背后，或向身后投去一半目光，

Something that is probably quite ineffable:

朝着那原始的恐惧。

The backward look behind the assurance

现在，我们开始发现这些痛苦时刻

Of recorded history, the backward half-look

（它是否来自于——因为误解——

Over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror.

对不善之物的向往，或是对不善之物的恐惧，

Now, we come to discover that the moments of agony

都无关紧要）像时间中的永恒一样

(Whether, or not, due to misunderstanding,

永久恒常。在他人（而不是我们）的痛苦中

Having hoped for the wrong things or dreaded the wrong things,

——我们被卷入其中，如同亲身经历——

Is not in question) are likewise permanent

我们更能认识到这一点。

With such permanence as time has. We appreciate this better

因为我们自己的过去被当前的行动所遮盖，

In the agony of others, nearly experienced,

而他人的苦痛对我们而言始终是鲜活的经验，

Involving ourselves, than in our own.

绝对的存在，未被苦难之后的事物所磨损。

For our own past is covered by the currents of action,

人们变化，微笑：而痛苦恒在。

But the torment of others remains an experience

时间作为破坏者，亦是事物的保存者，

Unqualified, unworn by subsequent attrition.

就像河流载着它的货物：死去的黑人，牛和鸡笼，

People change, and smile: but the agony abides.

就像被咬过的苹果，和苹果上的咬痕。

Time the destroyer is time the preserver,

不息的流水中褴褛的石头，

Like the river with its cargo of dead negroes, cows and chicken coops,

波浪冲刷它，浓雾锁住它，

The bitter apple, and the bite in the apple.

在平静的日子里，它只是一块纪念碑，

And the ragged rock in the restless waters,

在适宜出航的天气里，它永远是一个航标

Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;

指引航线，但在阴沉暗淡的季节，

On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,

或陷入狂怒时，它又恢复了本来面目。

In navigable weather it is always a seamark

To lay a course by: but in the sombre season

Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.

三．

我有时会想这是否就是克利什那神的寓意——

III

在其他事物中——或同一事物的另一个说法：

未来是一支渐行渐远的歌，一朵皇室玫瑰，或一抹

I sometimes wonder if that is what Krishna meant—

为还未来此表达悔恨的人而留下的遗憾，——像一支薰衣草

Among other things—or one way of putting the same thing:

被压在从未打开的发黄的书页间。

That the future is a faded song, a Royal Rose or a lavender spray

上升之路也是下降之路，向前之路也是向后之路。

Of wistful regret for those who are not yet here to regret,

面对时间，你很难镇定从容，但这件事是确定无疑的，

Pressed between yellow leaves of a book that has never been opened.

时间不是一个治疗师：病人早已不知所终。

And the way up is the way down, the way forward is the way back.

当火车开动，乘客们安顿下来，

You cannot face it steadily, but this thing is sure,

开始品尝水果，阅读期刊或商业信件，

That time is no healer: the patient is no longer here.

（站台上送行的人也已离开）

When the train starts, and the passengers are settled

随着漫长的催人入睡的节奏，

To fruit, periodicals and business letters

他们的脸从悲伤中放松下来。

(And those who saw them off have left the platform)

向前吧，旅途中的人们！不要从过去

Their faces relax from grief into relief,

逃向不同的生活，也不要进入任何未来；

To the sleepy rhythm of a hundred hours.

当变窄的轨道飞速地滑向你身后，

Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past

你已经不是离开车站时的那个人，

Into different lives, or into any future;

也不是将要到达某个终点站的那个人；

You are not the same people who left that station

凝望着你身后不断加宽的犁沟，

Or who will arrive at any terminus,

你也不应想“过去已经结束”

While the narrowing rails slide together behind you;

或者“未来在我们前方”。

And on the deck of the drumming liner

夜幕降临，船上的索具和天线中，

Watching the furrow that widens behind you,

一个声音高声宣布（虽然不是通过时间嗡嗡响的外壳，

You shall not think 'the past is finished'

和人们的耳朵，也不形之于任何语言）

Or 'the future is before us'.

“前行吧，你们这些认为自己在航行的人们；

At nightfall, in the rigging and the aerial,

你们已不是刚才那看着海港消失的人，

Is a voice descanting (though not to the ear,

已不是那即将登陆的人。

The murmuring shell of time, and not in any language)

这里，刚才的海岸和更远的海岸之间

'Fare forward, you who think that you are voyaging;

当时间隐退，请用平等的眼光

You are not those who saw the harbour

看待未来和过往。

Receding, or those who will disembark.

在这既无行动也不无行动的时刻

Here between the hither and the farther shore

听一听这个：‘不论一个人专注于

While time is withdrawn, consider the future

生存的哪一部分，

And the past with an equal mind.

在死亡的时刻——这是唯一的行动

At the moment which is not of action or inaction

（而且每一刻都是死亡的时刻）

You can receive this: "on whatever sphere of being

它将在别的生命中开花结果：

The mind of a man may be intent

所以不要顾及行动的结果。

At the time of death"—that is the one action

向前行进吧。’

(And the time of death is every moment)

　　　　　　　哦，航行者，哦，水手，

Which shall fructify in the lives of others:

And do not think of the fruit of action.

你们，来到港口的人们，你们的肉体将

Fare forward.

承受大海的考验和裁决，

                      O voyagers, O seamen,

或者不论遭遇何事，这都是你们真正的目的地。”

You who came to port, and you whose bodies

这就是克利什那，就像他在原野的战斗中

Will suffer the trial and judgement of the sea,

训诫阿朱那时一样。

Or whatever event, this is your real destination.'

So Krishna, as when he admonished Arjuna

　　　　　　　　　　没有告别，

On the field of battle.

                                  Not fare well,

而是前行，航行者们。

But fare forward, voyagers.

四．

IV

女神，你的神殿立于海岬之上，

Lady, whose shrine stands on the promontory,

请为那些船上的人们祈祷，为那些

Pray for all those who are in ships, those

以渔业为生的商人们，

Whose business has to do with fish, and

一切与合法的交通相关的人们

Those concerned with every lawful traffic

以及管理交通的人。

And those who conduct them.

也请为那些送别儿子或丈夫出海的

妇人送上祈祷，

    Repeat a prayer also on behalf of

她还在等他们归来：

Women who have seen their sons or husbands

Setting forth, and not returning:

天国之后。

Figlia del tuo figlio,

也为那些曾经身处海上的人祈祷，

Queen of Heaven.

在沙滩上，大海的嘴唇里，

或是在那来者不拒的黑暗的喉咙里，

    Also pray for those who were in ships, and

或在大海之钟的永久祈祷声所无法到达的任何地方，

Ended their voyage on the sand, in the sea's lips

终止了他们的航程。

Or in the dark throat which will not reject them

Or wherever cannot reach them the sound of the sea bell's

Perpetual angelus.

五．

与火星沟通，与神灵对话，

V

报告海妖的所作所为，

描绘星相、祭牲内脏或水晶球呈显的预言，

To communicate with Mars, converse with spirits,

从笔迹中辨认病症，

To report the behaviour of the sea monster,

从掌纹里唤起过往人生，

Describe the horoscope, haruspicate or scry,

从手指中追忆苦难，

Observe disease in signatures, evoke

用卦签或茶叶显示征兆，用纸牌

Biography from the wrinkles of the palm

揭开宿命的谜团，摆设五角星的迷局，

And tragedy from fingers; release omens

搞一搞巴比妥酸，或将

By sortilege, or tea leaves, riddle the inevitable

轮回的幻象解剖为前意识中的恐惧——

With playing cards, fiddle with pentagrams

探索子宫，坟墓或梦境；所有这些

Or barbituric acids, or dissect

都是司空见惯的消遣和迷药，大众媒体的特色：

The recurrent image into pre-conscious terrors—

当国家出现危难和困惑不决，

To explore the womb, or tomb, or dreams; all these are usual

人们的好奇心就去探究过去与未来，

Pastimes and drugs, and features of the press:

并将永远持续，其中的某些尤甚，

And always will be, some of them especially

不论是在亚洲的海岸边，还是在艾奇威尔大街，

When there is distress of nations and perplexity

而且矢志不渝。但要领会

Whether on the shores of Asia, or in the Edgware Road.

那时间与非时间的交叉点的意义，

Men's curiosity searches past and future

却是圣徒的职责，

And clings to that dimension. But to apprehend

也不是职责，是他们一生的给予

The point of intersection of the timeless

和承受，出于爱，热忱，

With time, is an occupation for the saint—

无私和自我牺牲。

No occupation either, but something given

对我们大多数人来说，只有意识缺席的时刻，

And taken, in a lifetime's death in love,

在时间之内和之外的时刻，

Ardour and selflessness and self-surrender.

一阵消失在一道阳光下的心烦意乱，

For most of us, there is only the unattended

无人赏识的野百里香，或冬天的闪电，

Moment, the moment in and out of time,

或瀑布，或沉醉于其中

The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,

以至于无所闻的音乐，但只要余音未绝，

The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning

你就是音乐。这些都只是暗示和猜想，

Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply

猜想跟随着暗示；其余就是

That it is not heard at all, but you are the music

祈祷，遵从，修持，思想和行动，

While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses,

半被猜透的暗示，半被领会的馈赠，是基督的化身。

Hints followed by guesses; and the rest

这里，显现于外在的事物

Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.

所无法获得的统一，是真实的，

The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is Incarnation.

这里，过去与未来

Here the impossible union

被征服，并和解，

Of spheres of existence is actual,

这里行动是另一种运动，

Here the past and future

只有运动的运动，

Are conquered, and reconciled,

而且它不含有出自恶魔和地府的动力

Where action were otherwise movement

所驱动的运动。

Of that which is only moved

所有合理的行动都是

And has in it no source of movement—

既来自于过去也来自于未来的自由。

Driven by daemonic, chthonic

对我们大多数人来说，这是

Powers. And right action is freedom

从未在此地被领悟的目标；

From past and future also.

我们没有被击败

For most of us, this is the aim

只是因为我们一直在尝试；

Never here to be realised;

如果我们在世间对本源的归返能滋养

Who are only undefeated

（离紫杉树并不太远）

Because we have gone on trying;

那意味深长的土壤上的生命，

We, content at the last

我们，终将感到满足。

If our temporal reversion nourish

(Not too far from the yew-tree)

The life of significant soil.