我坐在第五十二大街
I sit in one of the dives
其中一个下等酒吧
On Fifty-second Street
疑虑又害怕
Uncertain and afraid
当聪明的希望已到期，
As the clever hopes expire
低俗而不诚实的十年失效：
Of a low dishonest decade:
愤怒和恐惧的电波
Waves of anger and fear
在地球上那些明亮
Circulate over the bright
和暗淡的土地循环，
And darkened lands of the earth,
侵扰我们的私生活；
Obsessing our private lives;
那不宜提及的死亡味
The unmentionable odour of death
冒犯着这九月的夜晚。
Offends the September night.
准确的学问可以
Accurate scholarship can
发掘这整个冒犯，
Unearth the whole offence
从路德直到现在
From Luther until now
它驱使一个文化疯狂，
That has driven a culture mad,
看一看林茨出了什么事
Find what occurred at Linz
是什么巨大的心像制造
What huge imago made
一个精神变态的神祗：
A psychopathic god:
我和公众都知道
I and the public know
学童们都学了些什么，
What all schoolchildren learn,
他们被邪恶侵袭，
Those to whom evil is done
就用邪恶来回报。
Do evil in return.
流放的修昔底德知道
Exiled Thucydides knew
一篇演讲能说的一切，
All that a speech can say
关于民主政体，
About Democracy,
以及独裁者们的作为，
And what dictators do,
他们对一座冷漠的坟墓
The elderly rubbish they talk
倾吐老年的垃圾；
To an apathetic grave;
他在书中分析过的一切，
Analysed all in his book,
那被赶走的启蒙，
The enlightenment driven away,
那成了瘾的痛苦，
The habit-forming pain,
管理不善和悲伤：
Mismanagement and grief:
我们全都要再遭受一次。
We must suffer them all again.
盲目的擎天大厦利用
Into this neutral air
它们充分的高度宣告
Where blind skyscrapers use
集体人的力量，
Their full height to proclaim
每一种语言都争相
The strength of Collective Man,
把徒劳的托词
Each language pours its vain
倒进这中立的空气：
Competitive excuse:
但谁能活得长久
But who can live for long
在欣快症的梦里；
In an euphoric dream;
望着镜子他们看到
Out of the mirror they stare,
帝国主义的面孔
Imperialism's face
和国际坏事。
And the international wrong.
酒吧里一张张面孔
Faces along the bar
紧挨它们划一的日子：
Cling to their average day:
灯光一定不可熄灭，
The lights must never go out,
音乐一定要永远响着，
The music must always play,
所有的习俗都共谋
All the conventions conspire
将这个堡垒当成
To make this fort assume
家中的摆设；
The furniture of home;
免得我们看出自己在哪里，
Lest we should see where we are,
迷失在闹鬼的树林，
Lost in a haunted wood,
害怕夜晚的儿童
Children afraid of the night
从未有过快乐或满意。
Who have never been happy or good.
重要人物喊出
The windiest militant trash
最浮夸的好战废话
Important Persons shout
仍不如我们的愿望粗俗：
Is not so crude as our wish:
疯子尼任斯基写到
What mad Nijinsky wrote
佳吉列夫，
About Diaghilev
道出常人的真实心态；
Is true of the normal heart;
因为错误繁殖于
For the error bred in the bone
每个男人和女人的骨子里，
Of each woman and each man
渴望它不能拥有的东西，
Craves what it cannot have,
不是爱大家
Not universal love
而是被独爱。
But to be loved alone.
从保守的黑暗
From the conservative dark
进入道德的生活
Into the ethical life
走来密集的上班乘客，
The dense commuters come,
重复他们早晨的誓言，
Repeating their morning vow;
“我要对妻子忠实，
'I will be true to the wife,
我要更专心地工作”，
I'll concentrate more on my work,'
而无助的管治者醒来
And helpless governors wake
继续他们强迫性的游戏：
To resume their compulsory game:
谁可以解救他们，
Who can release them now,
谁可以接触聋人，
Who can reach the deaf,
谁可以替哑吧说话。
Who can speak for the dumb?
我只有一个声音
All I have is a voice
去拆开摺起的谎言；
To undo the folded lie,
耽于酒色的普通人
The romantic lie in the brain
脑中罗曼蒂克的谎言；
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
和使大楼摸到高空的
And the lie of Authority
当权者的谎言：
Whose buildings grope the sky:
没有国家这回事
There is no such thing as the State
也没有人独存；
And no one exists alone;
饥饿不允许选择
Hunger allows no choice
无论公民还是警察；
To the citizen or the police;
我们必须相爱或者死亡。
We must love one another or die.
在夜空下一筹莫展
Defenceless under the night
我们的世界躺在昏迷中；
Our world in stupor lies;
然而，偏布于各处，
Yet, dotted everywhere,
总有讽刺的光点
Ironic points of light
闪现于正义
Flash out wherever the Just
交流讯息的地方：
Exchange their messages:
但愿我，虽然跟他们一样
May I, composed like them
由厄洛斯和尘土构成，
Of Eros and of dust,
被同样的消极
Beleaguered by the same
和绝望围困，能呈上
Negation and despair,
一柱肯定的火焰。
Show an affirming flame.