书城外语那些年那些诗
6559300000037

第37章 Song of Nature

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mine are the night and morning,

The pits of air,the gulf of space,

The sportive sun,the gibbous moon,

The innumerable days.

I hid in the solar glory,

I am dumb in the pealing song,

I rest on the pitch of the torrent,

In slumber I am strong.

No numbers have counted my tallies,

No tribes my house can fill,

I sit by the shining Fount of Life,

And pour the deluge still;

And ever by delicate powers

Gathering along the centuries

From race on race the rarest flowers,

My wreath shall nothing miss.

And many a thousand summers

My apples ripened well,

And light from meliorating stars

With firmer glory fell.

I wrote the past in characters

Of rock and fire the scroll,

The building in the coral sea,

The planting of the coal.

And thefts from satellites and rings

And broken stars I drew,

And out of spent and aged things

I formed the world anew;

What time the gods kept carnival,

Tricked out in star and flower,

And in cramp elf and saurian forms

They swathed their too much power.

Time and Thought were my surveyors,

They laid their courses well,

They boiled the sea,and baked the layers

Or granite,marl,and shell.

But he,the man-child glorious,—

Where tarries he the while?

The rainbow shines his harbinger,

The sunset gleams his smile.

My boreal lights leap upward,

Forthright my planets roll,

And still the man-child is not born,

The summit of the whole.

Must time and tide forever run?

Will never my winds go sleep in the west?

Will never my wheels which whirl the sun

And satellites have rest?

Too much of donning and doffing,

Too slow the rainbow fades,

I weary of my robe of snow,

My leaves and my cascades;

I tire of globes and races,

Too long the game is played;

What without him is summer’s pomp,

Or winter’s frozen shade?

I travail in pain for him,

My creatures travail and wait;

His couriers come by squadrons,

He comes not to the gate.

Twice I have moulded an image,

And thrice outstretched my hand,

Made one of day,and one of night,

And one of the salt sea-sand.

One in a Judaean manger,

And one by Avon stream,

One over against the mouths of Nile,

And one in the Academe.

I moulded kings and saviours,

And bards o’er kings to rule;—

But fell the starry influence short,

The cup was never full.

Yet whirl the glowing wheels once more,

And mix the bowl again;

Seethe,fate! the ancient elements,

Heat,cold,wet,dry,and peace,and pain.

Let war and trade and creeds and song

Blend,ripen race on race,

The sunburnt world a man shall breed

Of all the zones,and countless days.

No ray is dimmed,no atom worn,

My oldest force is good as new,

And the fresh rose on yonder thorn

Gives back the bending heavens in dew.

自然之歌

拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生

我拥有黑夜与清晨,

大气的沟壑,空间的深渊,

太阳嬉闹,月华盈盈,

数不清的一天天。

我躲进阳光的辉煌,

在隆隆的歌里沉默,

停在洪流的波面,

我在酣眠中强壮。

没有数字将我计数,

没有部落充满我的房屋,

坐在波光潋滟的生命泉边,

我默默将洪流倾注;

曾经倚靠精妙的力量

沿着诸多的世纪采集

一种接一种珍稀的花朵,

我的花冠上什么都不会逃过。

经过成千上万个夏季

我的苹果都成熟了,

变化着的星星闪烁

撒下坚实的光芒。

我用岩石的质地书写往昔

并焚烧那些纸制卷轴,

珊瑚海中的建筑哦,

煤矿的基底。

从那些卫星和轨道间

我窃取毁坏的星宿,

用那些衰竭与老化之物

我将全新的世界构筑;

何时诸神流连于狂欢,

用星星和花朵妆扮,

也用痉挛的侏儒与蜥蜴标本

赋予过多的神力给它们。

时间与思想将我检验,

铺设它们美好的进程,

它们煮沸大海,烧硬岩层

或是花岗岩、泥灰岩和地壳。

而他,光荣的男孩,——

此时他在何处流连?

彩虹为他映出预言,

夕阳使他的微笑闪现。

我的北极光向上飞升,

我的行星都即刻开始运行,

那男孩,一切的顶点

却依然尚未出生,

时间与潮汐必将恒久运行?

我的风在西方永不入睡?

我那轮子转动太阳

和行星,永远都不会停?

太多的求取,太多的丢弃,

虹影太过缓慢地褪去,

我厌倦我那雪之长衣,

我的叶子和我的瀑流。

我厌倦众星及其运行,

这游戏已玩了太久;

没有他,怎一番夏日的盛景,

怎一番冬日冰冷的暗影?

我为他陷入劳苦伤痛,

我的创造物苦苦等待;

他的信使纷纷而来,

他却没有来到门外。

我两度造出一个形象,

又三次把我的手展开,

造一个用白昼,另一个用夜晚,

还有一个用那盐渍的海滩。

一个在犹大的马槽,

还有一个在埃文河畔,

一个对着尼罗河口,

还有一个在“学苑”。

我造出国王与救世主,

还有王权莫及的游吟诗仙;——

却未能降下灿如群星的感化,

那杯子从未充满。

再次将那些光辉的轮子旋转,

再度混合起杯中诸物;

沸腾吧,命运!远古的元素,

热,冷,湿,干,还有和平,还有痛苦。

让战争、贸易、教义、歌曲

结合,并日臻成熟,

人要抚育被太阳炙灼的世界

每一寸土地,和不可穷尽的年数。

光线不再黯淡,原子不再衰竭,

我亘古的力量完好如新,

鲜艳的玫瑰在远处的荆丛

用露珠透映弯曲的苍穹。

背景知识

拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生(Ralph Waldo Emerson),美国散文作家、思想家、诗人。他的诗歌、散文独具特色,注重思想内容而没有过分注重词藻的华丽,行文犹如格言,哲理深入浅出,说服力强,且有典型的“爱默生风格”。有人这样评价他的文字“爱默生似乎只写警句”,他的文字所透出的气质难以形容:既充满专制式的不容置疑,又具有开放式的民主精神;既有贵族式的傲慢,更具有平民式的直接;既清晰易懂,又常常夹杂着某种神秘主义。

单词注解

innumerable [i5nju:mErEbl] 无数的;数不清的

deluge [5delju:dV] 涌至;大量泛滥

saurian [5sC:riEn] 蜥蜴的;蜥蜴状的

cascade [kAs5keid] 小瀑布

名句诵读

Mine are the night and morning,The pits of air,the gulf of space,The sportive sun,the gibbous moon,The innumerable days.

I travail in pain for him,My creatures travail and wait;His couriers come by squadrons,He comes not to the gate.

No ray is dimmed,no atom worn,My oldest force is good as new,And the fresh rose on yonder thorn Gives back the bending heavens in dew.