LESSON 58

LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS

朝圣先辈登岸

Felicia Dorothea Hemans, 1794-1835, was born in Liverpool. Her father, whose name was Browne, was an Irish merchant. She spent her childhood in Wales, began to write poetry at a very early age, and was married when about eighteen to Captain Hemans. By this marriage, she became the mother of five sons; but, owing to differences of taste and disposition, her husband left her at the end of six years; and by mutual agreement they never again lived together. Mrs. Hemans now made literature a profession, and wrote much and well. In 1826 Prof. Andrews Norton brought out an edition of her poems in America, where they became popular, and have remained so.

Mrs. Hemans’s poetry is smooth and graceful, frequently tinged with a shade of melancholy, but never despairing, cynical, or misanthropic. It never deals with the highest themes, nor rises to sublimity, but its influence is calculated to make the reader truer, nobler, and purer.

The breaking waves dashed high

On a stern and rock-bound coast,

And the woods against a stormy sky

Their giant branches tossed;

And the heavy night hung dark,

The hills and waters o’er,

When a band of exiles moored their bark

On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,

They, the true-hearted, came;

Not with the roll of the stirring drums.

And the trumpet that sings of fame.

Not as the flying come,

In silence, and in fear;—

They shook the depths of the desert gloom

With their hymns of lofty cheer.

Amidst the storm they sang,

And the stars heard, and the sea;

And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang

To the anthem of the free!

The ocean eagle soared

From his nest by the white wave’s foam;

And the rocking pines of the forest roared,—

This was their welcome home.

There were men with hoary hair

Amidst that pilgrim band:

Why had they come to wither there,

Away from their childhood’s land?

There was woman’s fearless eye,

Lit by her deep love’s truth;

There was manhood’s brow, serenely high,

And the fiery heart of youth.

What sought they thus afar?

Bright jewels of the mine?

The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?—

They sought a faith’s pure shrine!

Ay, call it holy ground,

The soil where first they trod:

They have left unstained what there they found,—

Freedom to worship God.

【中文阅读】

在静穆和多岩石的海滩上

海浪拍岸花飞溅，

暴风雨交加的树林，

巨大的树枝堪折断。

沉闷的夜晚漆黑一片，

山丘流水潺潺，

这时，一大群被放逐的人将他们的木筏

系泊在新英格荒凉的海岸上。

征服者没有来这里，

他们这些忠实的人却来了；

没有激动人心的隆隆鼓乐。

以及颂扬名望的喇叭小号。

没有营营飞蝇飞来，

在静默和恐惧中，

他们用高亢的欢呼的颂歌

摇撼沙漠昏暗的深处。

在他们唱到的暴风雨中间，

听到了星星和大海的声音；

昏暗的树林那回音通道

回荡着自由赞歌！

海鹰借着白色浪花卷起的飞沫

从他的鹰巢翱翔天际；

森林里摇摆的松树在咆哮——

这就是欢迎他们的家园。

在朝圣的人群中间，

有头发花白的老者：

他们为什么要离开孩提时的故土，

踏上这朝圣的路？

还有妇人那无畏的眼神，

被她对真理的挚爱点亮了神采；

男人坚毅的额头，庄严高耸，

还有年轻人那火热的心。

他们来到遥远的这里为了什么？

难道是为了我那光灿灿的珠宝？

还是为了大海的财富，躲避战争的蹂躏？

他们追求的是真理纯粹的神圣！

哎，就称这里为圣地吧，

他们踏上的第一片陆地：

他们把发现的没有玷污的东西留下——

用自由拜祭上帝。