About suffering they were never wrong, 

关于经受苦难他们从来都没错过，

The Old Masters: how well, they understood 

那些古老的大师：他们真的理解

Its human position; how it takes place 

那是人类的立场：它是怎样发生的

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

当另一些人正在吃饭或者打开一扇窗户或者无所事事地走着；

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting 

又是怎样，当老者虔诚地，热切地等待

For the miraculous birth, there always must be 

奇迹的诞生，这儿总是会有

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating 

并不特别盼望奇迹发生的孩子们，在树林边

On a pond at the edge of the wood: 

的池面上滑冰：

They never forgot 

他们从来没有忘记

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course 

即使是最可怕的殉难也要在一个角落

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot 

按常规进行，一个肮脏的地方

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

那里狗过着狗样的日子而施暴者的马

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. 

在一棵树上蹭着它无辜的臀部。

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

在布鲁盖尔的伊卡洛斯里，比如说：所有的东西怎样对着灾难

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 

相当悠闲地掉转头去；耕田者可能

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, 

听到了那声泼溅，一声孤绝的喊叫，

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

但对他来说那不是什么了不起的失败；太阳照耀

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

好像它就得在那些白色的腿上消失进绿色的

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen 

水中，那些昂贵精美的船只也一定看到了

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, 

令人惊奇的事件，一个男孩从天上落下，

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

它们有要去的地方因而平静地继续行驶。