每一位天使都令人恐惧。可是，哎，

Every Angel is terror. And yet,

我仍然向你们发话——几乎致命的灵魂之鸟，

ah, knowing you, I invoke you, almost deadly

我知晓你们。托比阿斯*的日子如今在哪里？

birds of the soul. Where are the days of Tobias,

你们中的一位，曾藏起灿烂的光华，站在门口，

when one of the most radiant of you stood at the simple threshold,

为旅程改扮了自己，不再令人震恐（就像

disguised somewhat for the journey and already no longer awesome

从窗口好奇地偷看他的那位年轻人）。

(Like a youth, to the youth looking out curiously).

可如果此刻，这位天使长从众星后面

Let the Archangel now, the dangerous one, from behind the stars,

朝我们迈出危险的一小步：我们就将因为

take a single step down and toward us: our own heart,

无限加速的心跳而死去。你们是谁？

beating on high would beat us down. What are you?

是宇宙初创时的杰作，是造物的宠儿，

Early successes, Creation’s favourite ones,

是被世界的晨曦映红的山脉与峰顶

mountain-chains, ridges reddened by dawns

——是盛开的神性飘散的花粉，

of all origin – pollen of flowering godhead,

是纯粹之光的门枢、走廊、楼梯与宝座，

junctions of light, corridors, stairs, thrones,

是本质形成的空间，福乐铸成的盾牌， 

spaces of being, shields of bliss, tempests

也是狂喜的风暴与漩涡，在刹那间停顿：

of storm-filled, delighted feeling and, suddenly, solitary

是镜子，美从它们表面源源地流出，

mirrors: gathering their own out-streamed beauty

又返回它们自身，分毫无损。

back into their faces again.

可是我们，却会被灼热的感情蒸发无形；我们

For we, when we feel, evaporate: oh, we

随自己的呼吸逃逸，远离；在流逝的时间里，

breathe ourselves out and away: from ember to ember,

我们的情感日渐飘散，犹如香气。虽然有人会说：

yielding us fainter fragrance. Then someone may say to us:

“是的，你已渗入我的血脉，房间和整个春天

‘Yes, you are in my blood, the room, the Spring-time

都被你充满……”这有什么用？他盛不下我们，

is filling with you’..... What use is that: they cannot hold us,

我们在他里面，在他周围，消失。那些美丽的人，

we vanish inside and around them. And those who are beautiful,

谁能留住他们？新的景致在他们脸上

oh, who holds them back? Appearance, endlessly, stands up,

升起，又沉没。就像清晨草叶上的露水，

in their face, and goes by. Like dew from the morning grass,

我们的一切飘入虚空，仿佛饭菜上袅袅的热气。

what is ours rises from us, like the heat

啊，微笑，你去了哪里？啊，仰视的目光：

from a dish that is warmed. O smile: where? O upward gaze:

温暖的波涛，刚从心灵的海上退去……

new, warm, vanishing wave of the heart - :

可叹，但我们就是如此。那么，我们消溶进的

oh, we are that. Does the cosmic space,

那无限的空间会有我们的味道吗？天使们

we dissolve into, taste of us then? Do the Angels

真的只是收回自己散发的光芒，还是

really only take back what is theirs, what has streamed out of them,

偶尔也会，仿佛是不小心，吸入我们的

or is there sometimes, as if by an oversight, something

一点点本质？他们的面容里会显出我们的

of our being, as well? Are we as mingled with their

痕迹吗，哪怕暧昧如孕妇脸上微妙的神情？

features, as there is vagueness in the faces

他们自己并不会留意（他们怎么可能

of pregnant women? They do not see it in the swirling

留意），当他们旋转着返回自己。

return to themselves. (How should they see it?)

如果恋人们洞悉了秘密，他们也许会向夜色

Lovers, if they knew how, might utter

吐出陌生神奇的词句。因为一切似乎都在

strange things in night air. Since it seems

把我们藏匿。看：树始终在那里；

everything hides us. Look, trees exist; houses,

我们居住的房子也在那里。惟有我们

we live in, still stand. Only we

从所有事物边飞过，像风一样漂泊无依。

pass everything by, like an exchange of air.

所有事物都在密谋对我们绝口不提，或许

And all is at one, in keeping us secret, half out of

一半源于羞耻，一半源于无法说出的希望。

shame perhaps, half out of inexpressible hope.

彼此满足的恋人们，我问你们。

Lovers, each satisfied in the other, I ask

你们互相拥抱着。可是凭据在哪儿？

you about us. You grasp yourselves. Have you a sign?

你们看，有时我的两只手也会感觉到

Look, it happens to me, that at times my hands

彼此的存在，或者我这张被时光磨蚀的脸

become aware of each other, or that my worn face

也会在它们里面栖身。这似乎让我

hides itself in them. That gives me a slight

有所触动。可是谁敢只为这一点凭据生存下去？

sensation. But who would dare to exist only for that?

你们或许不同。你们在对方的激情里

You, though, who grow in the other’s delight

生长，直到他再也承受不住，祈求你：

until, overwhelmed, they beg:

“请别再……”；你们在他的双手之下，

‘No more’ -: you, who under your hands

丰盛甜美，犹如秋天的葡萄；

grow richer like vintage years of the vine:

你们仿佛彻底消失，溶化在对方无边的

who sometimes vanish, because the other

欲望里：我问你们。我知道，

has so gained the ascendancy: I ask you of us. I know

你们的触摸如醉如痴，因为爱抚会存留，

you touch so blissfully because the caress withholds,

因为你们如此温柔覆盖的部位

because the place you cover so tenderly

不会消失；因为你们感觉纯粹的延续

does not disappear: because beneath it you feel

在下面涌动。所以你们在拥抱里

pure duration. So that you promise eternity

几乎看到了永恒。然而，当你们经历了

almost, from the embrace. And yet, when you’ve endured

目光初遇时的惊惧，窗前的期盼，

the first terrible glances, and the yearning at windows,

第一次（哪怕仅仅一次）在花园里的携手漫步：

and the first walk together, just once, through the garden:

恋人们，你们还和原来一样吗？当你们

Lovers, are you the same? When you raise yourselves

抬起头亲吻，唇印着唇，蜜贴着蜜，

one to another’s mouth, and hang there – sip against sip:

你们是多么奇怪地在啜饮中渗失了自己。

O, how strangely the drinker then escapes from their action.

你们难道不觉得惊讶，古希腊墓碑上的人

Weren’t you amazed by the caution of human gesture

姿势都那般凝重？难道爱与别离

on Attic steles? Weren’t love and departure

不是如此小心地置于那些肩上，仿佛它们

laid so lightly on shoulders, they seemed to be made

是用另一个世界的材料做成？记得那些手吗？

of other matter than ours? Think of the hands

它们搭在那儿，几乎没有重量，虽然躯干

how they rest without weight, though there is power in the torso.

蕴藏着力。这些克制的形象知道：“我们只能

Those self-controlled ones know, through that: so much is ours,

到此为止，只能这样轻柔地触碰彼此；神可以

this is us, to touch our own selves so: the gods

更有力地按在我们身上。不过那是神的事。”

may bear down more heavily on us. But that is the gods’ affair.

If only we too could discover a pure, contained

但愿我们能找到一处纯粹、安宁的

human place, a strip of fruitful land of our own,

人类之地，一处河流与岩石之间

between river and stone! For our own heart exceeds us,

属于我们自己的果园。因为我们的心总会超越我们，

even as theirs did. And we can no longer

就像他们的心。我们终将不能再跟随它，只能

gaze after it into images, that soothe it, or into

凝望抚慰它梦想的图景和神一样的形体：

godlike bodies, where it restrains itself more completely.

那里有更大的尺度，能让它获得更高的平衡。