About suffering they were never wrong, 

说到苦难，他们从未看错， 

The Old Masters: how well, they understood 

古代那些大师：他们深切体认 

Its human position; how it takes place 

苦难在人世的地位；当苦难降临， 

While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; 

别人总是在进食或开窗或仅仅默然走过； 

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting 

当长者正虔诚地、热烈地等， 

For the miraculous birth, there always must be 

等奇迹降临，总有孩子们 

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating 

不特别期待它发生，正巧 

On a pond at the edge of the wood: 

在林边的池塘上溜冰： 

They never forgot 

大师们从不忘记 

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course 

即使可怖的殉道也必须在一隅 

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot 

独自进行，在杂乱的一隅 

Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse 

一任狗照常过狗的日子，酷吏的马匹 

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. 

向一颗树干摩擦无辜的后臀。 

In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away 

例如布鲁果的《伊卡瑞斯》，众人 

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 

都悠然不顾那劫难，那农夫可能 

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, 

听见了水波溅洒，呼救无望， 

But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone 

但是不当它是惨重的牺牲；阳光灿照， 

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green 

不会不照见白净的双腿没入碧湛 

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen 

的海波；那豪华优雅的海舟必然看见 

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, 

一幕奇景，一童子自天而降， 

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

却有路要赶，仍安详地向前航行。