英国 A. E. 豪斯曼原著
Alfred Edward Housman (1859 – 1936)
徐家祯翻译
On forelands high in heaven,
’Tis many a year gone by,
Amidst the fall of even
Would stand my friends and I.
Before our foolish faces
Lay lands we did not see;
Our eyes were in the places
Where we should never be.
„Oh, the pearl seas are yonder,
The gold and amber shore;
Shires where the girls are fonder,
Towns where the pots hold more.
And here fret we and moulder
By grange and rick and shed
And every moon are older,
And soon we shall be dead.”
Heigho, ’twas true and pity;
But there we lads must stay.
Troy was a steepled city,
But Troy was far away.
And home we turned lamenting
To plains we longed to leave,
And silent hills indenting
The orange band of eve.
I see the air benighted
And all the dusking dales,
And lamps in England lighted,
And evening wrecked on Wales.
And starry darkness paces
The road from sea to sea,
And blots the foolish faces
Of my poor friends and me.
那是很多很多年以前,
暮霭正在降临的傍晚,
我与我的朋友们,
坐在高达天际的海岸前沿。
在我们傻乎乎的脸庞前面,
铺展着大片陆地我们无法看见;
我们的眼睛望着的那些地方,
我们永远不可能亲临其间。
“喔,那里有珍珠的大海,
还有黄金和琥珀的海岸;
那里的姑娘更加娇艳,
那里镇上的水壶装得更满。
这里的草堆、谷仓和庄院,
已使我们意志消沉、心灰意懒。
我们一天天衰老,
死亡已经离我们不远。”
唉,这是现实,让人遗憾,
但我们年轻人只能留守家园。
特洛伊是高塔林立的城市,
但特洛伊离这里远在天边。
我们唉声叹气地回家,
我们渴望离开这片平原。
无语的群山起伏蜿蜒,
晚霞呈现一条橘色的长链。
我看见四野暮色苍茫,
山谷里暮霭沉沉一片昏暗,
英格兰大地灯火闪烁,
黄昏沉沦在威尔士海面。
星星点点的夜幕,
在大海之间踯躅盘旋,
抹去了我朋友与我
一张张傻乎乎的脸。
二0二二年五月三十日
译于澳大利亚刻来佛寺爱闲堂