SAILING TO BYZANTIUM（驶向拜占庭）

诗/[爱尔兰] William Butler Yeats  译/查良铮 

I                                            一

That is no country for old men. The young          那不是老年人的国度。青年人

In one another arms, birds in the trees              在互相拥抱；那垂死的世代，

Those dying generations - at their song,             树上的鸟，正从事他们的歌唱；

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,        鱼的瀑布，青花鱼充塞的大海，

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long       鱼、兽或鸟，一整个夏天在赞扬

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.               凡是诞生和死亡的一切存在。

Caught in that sensual music all neglect             沉溺于那感官的音乐，个个都疏忽

Monuments of unageing intellect.                 万古长青的理性的纪念物。

 

II                                               二

An aged man is but a paltry thing,                  一个衰颓的老人只是个废物，

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless                  是件破外衣支在一根木棍上，

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing          除非灵魂拍手作歌，为了它的

For every tatter of its mortal dress,                  皮囊的每个裂绽唱得更响亮；

Nor is there singing school but studying              可是没有教唱的学校，而只有

Monuments of its own magnificence;                研究纪念物上记载的它的辉煌，

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come         因此我就远渡重洋而来到

To the holy city of Byzantium.                      拜占庭的神圣的城堡。

 

III                                           三

O sages standing in God's holy fire                  哦，智者们！立于上帝的神火中，

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,                     好像是壁画上嵌金的雕饰，

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,              从神火中走出来吧，旋转当空，

And be the singing-masters of my soul.               请为我的灵魂作歌唱的教师。

Consume my heart away; sick with desire             把我的心烧尽，它被绑在一个
And fastened to a dying animal                      垂死的肉身上，为欲望所腐蚀，

It knows not what it is; and gather me                 已不知它原来是什么了；请尽快

Into the artifice of eternity.                         把我采集进永恒的艺术安排。

 

IV                                           四

Once out of nature I shall never take                一旦脱离自然界，我就不再从
My bodily form from any natural thing,             任何自然物体取得我的形状，

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make         而只要希腊的金匠用金釉

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling             和锤打的金子所制作的式样，

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;                 供给瞌睡的皇帝保持清醒；

Or set upon a golden bough to sing                 或者就镶在金树枝上歌唱

To lords and ladies of Byzantium                   一切过去、现在和未来的事情

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.              给拜占庭的贵族和夫人听。

(Yeats The Poems 217)