Walk through this town at a gray hour

在一個昏暗時刻穿行於這座城鎮

when sorrow hides in shady gates

當憂傷隱藏在陰沉的大門裏

and children play with great balls

而兒童玩著風箏般飄蕩

that float like kites above

在庭院有毒水井上空的大球，

the poisoned wells of courtyards,

而安寧、帶懷疑的最後黑鳥歌唱。

and, quiet, doubting, the last blackbird sings.

想想你那繼續著的生活，

Think about your life which goes on,

儘管它已維持太久了。

though it’s already lasted so long.

你能否表達整體中最小碎片的聲音。

Could you voice the smallest fragment of the whole.

你能否在見到卑鄙時直呼其名。

Could you name baseness when you saw it.

如果你遇見某個真正生活著的人

If you met someone truly living

你會知道嗎？

would you know it?

你是否濫用華麗的辭藻？

Did you abuse high words?

你原可以成為什麽樣的人，誰知道。

Whom should you have been, who knows.

你愛沉默，而你只精通

You love silence, and you’ve mastered

沉默，傾聽文字、音樂，而且安靜：

only silence, listening to words, music, and quiet:

為什麽你開始說話，誰知道。

why did you begin to speak, who knows.

為什麽在這個年代，在一個

Why in this age, why in a country

還未誕生的國家，誰知道。

that wasn’t born yet, who knows.

為什麽躋身於流亡者中間，在一套曾經是德國人的

Why among exiles, in a flat that had been

公寓，周圍是悲傷和哀痛

German, amid grief and mourning

和徒勞想重獲一個神話的希望。

and vain hopes of a regained myth.

為什麽童年蒙上采礦架

Why a childhood shadowed

而不是森林的黑暗的陰影，

by mining towers and not a forest’s dark,

在一條溪流邊，那裏一隻安靜的蜻蜓繼續看守

near a stream where a quiet dragonfly keeps watch

世界的秘密整體

over the world’s secret wholeness

──誰知道。

—who knows.

還有你的愛，它失而復得；

And your love, which you lost and found,

還有你的神，祂不幫助那些

and your God, who won’t help those

尋找祂的人，

who seek him,

並躲在擁有學位的

and hides among theologians

神學家中間。

with degrees.

為什麽只是這座昏暗時刻的城鎮，

Why just this town at a gray hour,

這乾燥的舌頭，這麻痹的嘴唇，

this dry tongue, these numb lips,

和如此多的問題，在你離開

and so many questions before you leave

回你的王國之前，那王國

and go home to the kingdom

曾經是沉默、狂喜和風的

from which silence, rapture, and the wind

发源地。

once came.