In the semi-darkness white buildings loom, not fully

在半暗中白色建築群聳立，還未完全

formulated, and beside them, the gray vineyards, the quiet before dawn;

成形，而建築群旁，那灰沉沉的葡萄園，那黎明前的寧靜；

Judas counts his silver coins, but olive trees contorted

猶大算著銀幣，但在猛烈祈禱中

in wild prayer enter the earth ever more deeply.

扭彎的橄欖樹比任何時候都更深入大地。

Where is the sun! But it’s still cold

太陽在哪裏！現在依然寒冷，

and a humble landscape spreads around us;

一片謙卑的風景在我們周圍鋪展；

the stars have gone and priests sleep tight, birds aren’t allowed

星星已離去，牧師們睡得正沉，鳥兒在八月

to sing in August and only now and then one

不許歌唱，偶爾才有一隻

stammers like a lazy boy in high school Latin.

結結巴巴，像中學拉丁課上不用功的男生。

It’s four a.m. and despair lives in so many houses.

現在是淩晨四點，絕望住在如此多的房子裏。

This is the time when sad philospohers with narrow faces

這時候臉孔狹長的憂傷哲學家

compose their jaded aphorisms and worn conductors,

正雕琢他們陳舊的格言，而疲乏的指揮家，

who’d brought Bruckner and Mahler back to life that evening,

他們昨晚剛使布魯克納和馬勒復活，

drift off to sleep unwilling, unapplauded, and whores go home

此刻無人鼓掌地、不大情願地迷糊入睡，而妓女們

to their shabby apartments.

回到她們寒酸的公寓裏。

                                          We ask that the vineyards,

                                         我們懇求葡萄園

gray as if coated with volcanic ash, be given life,

被賦予生命，它們灰沉沉，像塗上一層火山灰；

and that the great, distant cities awaken from their apathy,

懇求遠方那些大城市從冷漠中蘇醒，

and I ask not to confuse freedom with chaos

而我懇求別誤將自由等同於混亂，

and to regain the faith that unites

懇求重獲那樣一種信仰，它連接

things seen and sunseen, but doesn’t lull the heart.

可見和不可見的事物，但不鈍化心靈。

Beneath us the sea turns blue and the horizon’s line

在我們下面大海變藍，地平線的輪廓

grows ever finer, like a slender fillet

逐漸清晰，像一條細長的帶子

that embraces, lovingly and firmly, our turning planet,

深情而牢牢地環抱我們這轉動中的星球，

and we see fishing boats rock trustfully like gulls

我們看見漁船可靠地搖晃，像海鷗

upon the deep, blue waters and a moment later

在深藍色的水面上，而不一會兒

the sun’s crimson disc emerges from a half circle of hills

太陽深紅色的圓盤從圍成半圈的群山裏浮現，

and returns the gift of light.

歸還光的禮物。