一

I

仲东的春天是它自己的季节

Midwinter spring is its own season

漫漫永昼而到日落却一片湿润，

Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,

悬在时间中，在极圈和回归线之间。

Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.

当短暂的白昼因为寒霜和火成为最明亮的时刻，

When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,

匆促的太阳点燃了地上和沟里的冰，

The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,

在无风的冷冽中那是心的热，

In windless cold that is the heart's heat,

在一面似水的镜子里

Reflecting in a watery mirror

映照出一道刺目的强光，

A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.

在就是晌午时分之所以令人眩目而一无所见。

And glow more intense than blaze of branch, or brazier,

灼热的光比柴枝的火更烈比火盆更旺，

Stirs the dumb spirit: no wind, but pentecostal fire

激起麻木的精神：没有风，只有圣灵降临节的火

In the dark time of the year. Between melting and freezing

在这一年的黑暗时节。在融化和结冰之间

The soul's sap quivers. There is no earth smell

灵魂的活力在颤抖。没有大地的气息

Or smell of living thing. This is the spring time

或者有生命之物的气息。这是春天季节

But not in time's covenant. Now the hedgerow

但不是在约定的时间之内。现在树篱

Is blanched for an hour with transitory blossom

因为雪花短暂开放而一时满身素白，

Of snow, a bloom more sudden

一次比夏花绽放更突然的花开，

Than that of summer, neither budding nor fading,

既未含葩待放也不会凋零谢落，

Not in the scheme of generation.

不在世代蕃衍的计划之内。

Where is the summer, the unimaginable

夏天在哪里？那不可想象的

Zero summer?

零度的夏天？

              If you came this way,

　　　　　如果你到这里来，

Taking the route you would be likely to take

选择你可能选择的路线

From the place you would be likely to come from,

从你可能出那里来的地方来，

If you came this way in may time, you would find the hedges

如果你在山楂花开的时候到这里来，

White again, in May, with voluptuary sweetness.

你会发现五月里，树篱又变白了，

It would be the same at the end of the journey,

飘散这迷人的甜香。

If you came at night like a broken king,

到旅程的终点都一样，

If you came by day not knowing what you came for,

如果你像一位困顿的国王夤夜而来，

It would be the same, when you leave the rough road

如果你白天来又不知道你为何而来，

And turn behind the pig-sty to the dull facade

那都一样，当你离开崎岖的小径

And the tombstone. And what you thought you came for

在猪栏后面拐向那阴暗的前庭和墓碑的时候。

Is only a shell, a husk of meaning

你原先以为是你此行的目的

From which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilled

现在不过是意义的一层贝壳，一层荚

If at all. Either you had no purpose

只要有什么目的能实现的话，目的才破壳而出。

Or the purpose is beyond the end you figured

或者是你原先根本没有目的

And is altered in fulfilment. There are other places

或者是目的在于你是想象的终点之外

Which also are the world's end, some at the sea jaws,

而在实现的过程中已经改变。另有一些地方

Or over a dark lake, in a desert or a city—

也是世界的终点，有的在海的入口

But this is the nearest, in place and time,

或者在一片黑暗的湖上，在沙漠中

Now and in England.

或者在一座城市里——

但是在地点和时间上，这里是最近的地方，

              If you came this way,

现在和在英格兰。

Taking any route, starting from anywhere,

At any time or at any season,

　　　　　　　如果你到这里来，

It would always be the same: you would have to put off

不论走哪条路，从哪里出发，

Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,

在哪个地方或哪个季节，

Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity

那都是一样：你必须抛开

Or carry report. You are here to kneel

感觉和思想。你到这里来不是为了证明什么，

Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more

教诲自己，或者告诉什么新奇的事物

Than an order of words, the conscious occupation

或者传送报告。你到这里来

Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.

是到祈祷一向是正当的地方来

And what the dead had no speech for, when living,

俯首下跪。祈祷不只是

They can tell you, being dead: the communication

一种话语，祈祷者头脑的

Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.

清醒的活动，或者是祈求呼告的声音。

Here, the intersection of the timeless moment

死者活着的时候，无法以言词表达的，

Is England and nowhere. Never and always.

他们作为死者能告诉你：死者的交流思想

超乎生者的语言之外是用火表达的。

这里，无始无终的瞬间的交叉点是英格兰，

II

而不是任何其他地方。决不而且永远。

Ash on an old man's sleeve

Is all the ash the burnt roses leave.

二

Dust in the air suspended

Marks the place where a story ended.

一个老人衣袖上的灰

Dust inbreathed was a house—

是焚烧的玫瑰留下的全部尘灰。

The walls, the wainscot and the mouse,

尘灰悬在空中

The death of hope and despair,

标志着一个故事在这里告终。

       This is the death of air.

你吸入的尘灰曾经是一座宅邸——

墙、护壁板和耗子。

There are flood and drouth

希望和希望的死亡，

Over the eyes and in the mouth,

　这是空气的死亡。

Dead water and dead sand

Contending for the upper hand.

在眼睛之上，在嘴巴里

The parched eviscerate soil

有洪水和干旱，

Gapes at the vanity of toil,

止水和死沙

Laughs without mirth.

在争斗着谁占上风。

       This is the death of earth.

坼裂的失去元气的泥土

张目结舌地望着徒然无益的劳动，

Water and fire succeed

放声大笑而没有欢乐。

The town, the pasture and the weed.

　这是土的死亡。

Water and fire deride

The sacrifice that we denied.

水和火取代

Water and fire shall rot

城镇、牧场和野草。

The marred foundations we forgot,

水和火嘲弄

Of sanctuary and choir.

我们拒绝奉献的牺牲。

       This is the death of water and fire.

水和火也必将腐蚀

我们遗忘的圣殿和唱诗席的

In the uncertain hour before the morning

已经毁坏的基础。

     Near the ending of interminable night

　这是水和火的死亡。

     At the recurrent end of the unending

After the dark dove with the flickering tongue

在黎明来临前无法确知的时刻

     Had passed below the horizon of his homing

　漫漫长夜行将结束

     While the dead leaves still rattled on like tin

　永无终止又到了终点

Over the asphalt where no other sound was

当黑黝黝的鸽子喷吐着忽隐忽现的火舌

     Between three districts whence the smoke arose

　在地平线下掠飞归去以后

     I met one walking, loitering and hurried

　在硝烟升腾的三个地区之间

As if blown towards me like the metal leaves

再没有别的声息只有枯叶像白铁皮一般

     Before the urban dawn wind unresisting.

　嘎嘎作响地扫过沥青路面

     And as I fixed upon the down-turned face

　这时我遇见一个在街上闲荡的行人

That pointed scrutiny with which we challenge

像被不可阻挡的城市晨风吹卷的

     The first-met stranger in the waning dusk

　金属薄片急匆匆地向我走来。

     I caught the sudden look of some dead master

　当我用锐利而审视的目光

Whom I had known, forgotten, half recalled

打量他那张低垂的脸庞

     Both one and many; in the brown baked features

　就像我们盘问初次遇见的陌生人那样

     The eyes of a familiar compound ghost

　在即将消逝的暮色中

Both intimate and unidentifiable.

我瞧见一位曾经相识、但已淡忘的已故的大师

     So I assumed a double part, and cried

　突然显现的面容，我恍惚记得

     And heard another's voice cry: 'What! are you here?'

　他既是一个又是许多个；晒黒的脸上

Although we were not. I was still the same,

一个熟识的复合的灵魂的眼睛

     Knowing myself yet being someone other—

　既亲密又不可辨认。

     And he a face still forming; yet the words sufficed

　因此我反复了一个双重角色，一面喊叫

To compel the recognition they preceded.

一面又听另一个人喊叫：“啊！你在这里？”

     And so, compliant to the common wind,

　尽管我们都不是。我还是我，

     Too strange to each other for misunderstanding,

　但我知道我自己已经成了另一个人——

In concord at this intersection time

而他只是一张还在形成的脸；但语言已足够

     Of meeting nowhere, no before and after,

　强迫他们承认曾经相识。

     We trod the pavement in a dead patrol.

　因此，按照一般的风尚，

I said: 'The wonder that I feel is easy,

双方既然素昧平生也就不可能产生误会，

     Yet ease is cause of wonder. Therefore speak:

　我们在这千载难逢，没有以前也没有以后的

     I may not comprehend, may not remember.'

　交叉时刻和谐地漫步在行人道上作一次死亡的巡逻。

And he: 'I am not eager to rehearse

我说：“我感到惊异是那么轻松安适，

     My thoughts and theory which you have forgotten.

　然而轻松正是惊异的原因。所以说，

     These things have served their purpose: let them be.

　我也许并不理解，也许不复记忆。”

So with your own, and pray they be forgiven

他却说：“我的思想和原则已被你遗忘，

     By others, as I pray you to forgive

　我不想再一次详细申诉。

     Both bad and good. Last season's fruit is eaten

　这些东西已经满足了它们的需要：由它们去吧。

And the fullfed beast shall kick the empty pail.

你自己的也是这样，祈求别人宽恕它们吧，

     For last year's words belong to last year's language

　就像我祈求你宽恕善与恶一样。上季的果子

     And next year's words await another voice.

　已经吃过，喂饱了的野兽也一定会把空桶踢开。

But, as the passage now presents no hindrance

因为去年的话属于去年的语言

     To the spirit unappeased and peregrine

　而来年的话还在等待另一种语调。

     Between two worlds become much like each other,

　但是，对于来自异域没有得到抚慰的灵魂，

So I find words I never thought to speak

在两个已变得非常相像的世界之间

     In streets I never thought I should revisit

　现在道路已畅通无阻，

     When I left my body on a distant shore.

　所以当我把我的躯体

Since our concern was speech, and speech impelled us

委弃在遥远的岸边以后

     To purify the dialect of the tribe

　我在我从未想到会重访的街巷

     And urge the mind to aftersight and foresight,

　找到了我从未想说的话。

Let me disclose the gifts reserved for age

既然我们关心的是说话，而说话又驱使我们

     To set a crown upon your lifetime's effort.

　去纯洁部族的方言

     First, the cold friction of expiring sense

　并怂恿我们瞻前顾后，

Without enchantment, offering no promise

那么就让我打开长久保存的礼物

     But bitter tastelessness of shadow fruit

　褒美你一生的成就。

     As body and soul begin to fall asunder.

　首先，当肉体与灵魂开始分离时，

Second, the conscious impotence of rage

即将熄灭的感觉失去了魅力

     At human folly, and the laceration

　它那冷漠的摩擦不能给你提供任何许诺

     Of laughter at what ceases to amuse.

　而只能是虚妄的果子的苦涩无味。

And last, the rending pain of re-enactment

第二，是对人间的愚行自知表示愤怒的

     Of all that you have done, and been; the shame

　软弱无力，以及对那不再引人发笑的一切

     Of motives late revealed, and the awareness

　你的笑声受到的伤害。

Of things ill done and done to others' harm

最后，在重演你一生的作为和扮演的角色时

     Which once you took for exercise of virtue.

　那撕裂心肺的痛苦；日后败露的动机所带来的羞愧，

     Then fools' approval stings, and honour stains.

　还有你一度一位是行善之举，

From wrong to wrong the exasperated spirit

如今觉察过去种种全是恶行

     Proceeds, unless restored by that refining fire

　全是对别人的伤害而产生的内疚。

     Where you must move in measure, like a dancer.'

　于是愚人的赞扬刺痛你，世间的荣誉玷污你。

The day was breaking. In the disfigured street

激怒的灵魂从错误走向错误

     He left me, with a kind of valediction,

　除非得到炼火的匡救，因为像一个舞蹈家

     And faded on the blowing of the horn.

　你必然要随着节拍向那儿跳去。”

天色即将破晓。在这条毁损的街上

　他带着永别的神情离开了我，

III

　消失在汽笛的长鸣声中。

There are three conditions which often look alike

Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow:

三

Attachment to self and to things and to persons, detachment

From self and from things and from persons; and, growing between them, indifference

有三种情况发生在这同一片树篱，

Which resembles the others as death resembles life,

往往貌似想像其实截然不同：

Being between two lives—unflowering, between

对自身、对物和人们的依附，

The live and the dead nettle. This is the use of memory:

从自身、从物和人们的分离；以及在这两者之间

For liberation—not less of love but expanding

产生的冷漠，它与前两种相似，犹如死与生相似，

Of love beyond desire, and so liberation

处于两种生涯之间——不绽开花朵，处于

From the future as well as the past. Thus, love of a country

生的和死的苦恼之间。这正是记忆的用处：

Begins as attachment to our own field of action

为了解脱——不是因为爱得不够

And comes to find that action of little importance

而是爱超乎欲望之外的扩展，于是不仅从过去

Though never indifferent. History may be servitude,

也从未来得到解脱。这样，对一个地方的爱恋

History may be freedom. See, now they vanish,

始于我们对自己的活动场所的依附

The faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them,

终于发现这种活动没多大意义

To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern.

虽然决不是冷漠。历史也许是奴役，

历史也许是自由。瞧，那一张张脸一处处地方

Sin is Behovely, but

随着那尽其是能爱过它们的自我

All shall be well, and

一起，现在它们都消失了，

All manner of thing shall be well.

而在另一种模式下更新，变化。

If I think, again, of this place,

And of people, not wholly commendable,

罪是不可避免的，但是

Of no immediate kin or kindness,

一切终将安然无恙，而且

But of some peculiar genius,

时间万物也终将安然无恙。

All touched by a common genius,

如果我又一次想起这个地方，

United in the strife which divided them;

又一次想起那些人，他们并非全都值得称道，

If I think of a king at nightfall,

既非直系亲属也非性情和善之辈，

Of three men, and more, on the scaffold

却是一些具有特殊才能的人，

And a few who died forgotten

他们都受了一种共同的思潮的感召，

In other places, here and abroad,

而联合在把他们分裂为营垒的斗争中；

And of one who died blind and quiet

如果我在黄昏时分想起一位国王，

Why should we celebrate

想起三个和更多的人被处决在绞刑架上

These dead men more than the dying?

还有一些死后默默无闻的人

It is not to ring the bell backward

在其他地方，在这里和国外，

Nor is it an incantation

我也想起一个双目失明悄然死去的人，

To summon the spectre of a Rose.

为什么我们纪念这些死去的人

We cannot revive old factions

就该胜于纪念那些濒临死亡的人呢？

We cannot restore old policies

这不是重新去敲响往昔的钟声

Or follow an antique drum.

也不是召唤一朵玫瑰的幽灵的咒语。

These men, and those who opposed them

我们无法复活那些古老的派别

And those whom they opposed

我们无法恢复那些古老的政策

Accept the constitution of silence

或者跟上一面古老的皮鼓敲击的鼓点。

And are folded in a single party.

这些人，和反对他们的那些人

Whatever we inherit from the fortunate

和那些他们反对的人

We have taken from the defeated

如今都接受了无声的命令

What they had to leave us—a symbol:

归入一个单一的团体。

A symbol perfected in death.

不管我们重幸运的人们继承到什么

And all shall be well and

我们已经从失败的人们取得了

All manner of thing shall be well

他们不得不留给我们的一切——一种象征：

By the purification of the motive

一种在死亡中得到完善的象征。

In the ground of our beseeching.

因此，通过动机的纯化

凭着我们祈求的理由

一切终将安然无恙，而且

IV

时间万物也终将安然无恙。

The dove descending breaks the air

With flame of incandescent terror

四

Of which the tongues declare

The one discharge from sin and error.

鸽子喷吐着炽烈的恐怖的火焰

The only hope, or else despair

划破夜空，掠飞而下

     Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre—

烈焰的火舌昭吿世间

     To be redeemed from fire by fire.

它免除了死者的过错和罪愆。

那仅有的希望，要不就是失望

Who then devised the torment? Love.

　在于你对焚尸柴堆的选择或者就在于柴堆——

Love is the unfamiliar Name

　通过烈火从烈火中得到涤罪。

Behind the hands that wove

The intolerable shirt of flame

是谁想出这种折磨的呢？是爱。

Which human power cannot remove.

爱是不熟悉的名字

     We only live, only suspire

它在编织火焰之衫的那双手后面，

     Consumed by either fire or fire.

火焰使人无法忍耐

那衣衫绝非人力所能解开。

我们只是活着，只是悲叹

V

不是让这种火就是让那种火把我们的生命耗完。

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

五

The end is where we start from. And every phrase

And sentence that is right (where every word is at home,

我们叫做开始的往往就是结束

Taking its place to support the others,

而宣告结束也就是着手开始。

The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,

终点是我们出发的地方。每个短语

An easy commerce of the old and the new,

和每个句子只要安排妥帖（每个词都各得其所，

The common word exact without vulgarity,

从它所处的位置支持其他的词，

The formal word precise but not pedantic,

文字既不羞怯也不炫耀，

The complete consort dancing together)

新与旧之间的一种轻松的交流，

Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,

普通的文字确切而不鄙俗，

Every poem an epitaph. And any action

规范的文字准确而不迂腐，

Is a step to the block, to the fire, down the sea's throat

融洽无间地在一起舞蹈）

Or to an illegible stone: and that is where we start.

那么每个短语每个句子都是一个结束和一个开始，

We die with the dying:

每首诗都是一篇墓志铭。而任何一个行动

See, they depart, and we go with them.

都是走向断头台，走向烈火，落入大海

We are born with the dead:

或走向一块你无法辨认的石碑的一步：

See, they return, and bring us with them.

而这就是我们出发的地方，

The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree

我们与濒临死亡的人们偕亡：

Are of equal duration. A people without history

瞧，他们离去了，我们与他们同行。

Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern

我们与死者同生：

Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails

瞧，他们回来了，携我们与他们俱来。

On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel

玫瑰飘香和紫杉扶疏的时令

History is now and England.

经历的时间一样短长。一个没有历史的民族

不能从时间得到拯救，因为历史

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this

是无始无终的瞬间的一种模式，所以，当一个冬天的下午

     Calling

天色渐渐暗淡的时候，在一座僻静的教堂里

历史就是现在和英格兰。

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

由于这种爱和召唤声的吸引

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

我们将不停止探索

Through the unknown, remembered gate

而我们一切探索的终点

When the last of earth left to discover

将是到达我们出发的地方

Is that which was the beginning;

并且是生平第一遭知道这地方。

At the source of the longest river

当时间的终极犹待我们去发现的时候

The voice of the hidden waterfall

穿过那未认识的，忆起的大门

And the children in the apple-tree

就是过去曾经是我们的起点；

Not known, because not looked for

在最漫长的大河的源头

But heard, half-heard, in the stillness

有深藏的瀑布的飞湍声

Between two waves of the sea.

在苹果林中有孩子们的欢笑声，

Quick now, here, now, always—

这些你都不知道，因为你

A condition of complete simplicity

并没有去寻找

(Costing not less than everything)

而只是听到，隐约听到，

And all shall be well and

在大海两次潮汐之间的寂静里。

All manner of thing shall be well

倏忽易逝的现在，这里，现在，永远——

When the tongues of flame are in-folded

一种极其简单的状态

Into the crowned knot of fire

（要求付出的代价却不比任何东西少）

And the fire and the rose are one.

而一切终将安然无恙，

时间万物也终将安然无恙

当火舌最后交织成牢固的火焰

烈火与玫瑰化为一体的时候。