About suffering they were never wrong, 

关于苦难，他们从未有错，

The Old Masters: how well, they understood 

这些古典大师们：他们有多了解

Its human position; how it takes place 

它的人性态度；它如何产生

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

当其他人在吃饭或打开窗或正沿路无趣地散步；

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting 

何以，当老人，虔诚地，充满激情地等待

For the miraculous birth, there always must be 

神迹的诞生，总会有

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating 

一些孩子不特别想要它发生，在树林

On a pond at the edge of the wood: 

边的一个池塘里溜冰：

They never forgot 

他们从没有忘记

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course 

即使可怕的殉道也必须顺其自然

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot 

于无论怎样的一个角落，一些凌乱之所

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

狗儿继续它们的狗营生而刑拷者的马

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. 

在一棵树上摩擦无辜的后臀。

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

例如，在布鲁盖尔的《伊卡洛斯》中：一切如何

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 

自灾难中很从容地避开；农夫可能

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, 

听到溅落的声音，被抛弃的哭喊，

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

但对他来说，这并非一个重大的失败；太阳闪耀

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

好像它必须随白色的腿消失于绿色

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen 

的水中；还有那艘昂贵而精美的船一定看到

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, 

一些令人惊叹的事，一个男孩从天上坠落，

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

而它有某个地方要去，继续平静地航行。