LESSON 66

THE EAGLE

鹰之歌

James Gates Percival, 1795-1856, was born at Berlin, Connecticut, and graduated at Yale College in 1815, at the head of his class. He was admitted to the practice of medicine in 1820, and went to Charleston, South Carolina. In 1824 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at West Point, a position which he held but a few months. In 1854 he was appointed State Geologist of Wisconsin, and died at Hazel Green, in that state. Dr. Percival was eminent as a geographer, geologist, and linguist. He began to write poetry at an early age, and his fame rests chiefly upon his writings in this department. In his private life, Percival was always shy, modest, and somewhat given to melancholy. Financially, his life was one of struggle, and he was often greatly straitened for money.

Bird of the broad and sweeping wing!

Thy home is high in heaven,

Where the wide storms their banners fling,

And the tempest clouds are driven.

Thy throne is on the mountain top;

Thy fields, the boundless air;

And hoary peaks, that proudly prop

The skies, thy dwellings are.

Thou art perched aloft on the beetling crag,

And the waves are white below,

And on, with a haste that can not lag,

They rush in an endless flow.

Again thou hast plumed thy wing for flight

To lands beyond the sea,

And away, like a spirit wreathed in light,

Thou hurriest, wild and free.

Lord of the boundless realm of air!

In thy imperial name,

The hearts of the bold and ardent dare

The dangerous path of fame,

Beneath the shade of thy golden wings,

The Roman legions bore,

From the river of Egypt’s cloudy springs,

Their pride, to the polar shore.

For thee they fought, for thee they fell,

And their oath on thee was laid;

To thee the clarions raised their swell,

And the dying warrior prayed.

Thou wert, through an age of death and fears,

The image of pride and power,

Till the gathered rage of a thousand years,

Burst forth in one awful hour.

And then, a deluge of wrath, it came,

And the nations shook with dread;

And it swept the earth, till its fields were flame,

And piled with the mingled dead.

Kings were rolled in the wasteful flood,

With the low and crouching slave;

And together lay, in a shroud of blood,

The coward and the brave.

【中文阅读】

鸟儿展翅翱翔!

你的家在高高的天上，

风暴扯动他们的旗帜，

驱赶着雨云。

你在突出的峭壁上栖息，

身下就是白色海浪，

他们迅急冲进无尽的水流。

为了翱翔你又整理自己的羽毛

越过大海着陆在那地方，

就像被光包裹着的精灵，

匆忙上路，自由地无拘无束。

无际无垠的天空之主啊！

那些勇敢和热烈的心竟敢

以你帝王的名义，

踏上这危险的名誉之路，

在闪着金色的翅膀阴影下方，

古罗马军团从埃及乌云密布的山泉，

开凿出河道，

他们的骄傲，一只延伸到极地的海岸。

他们为你而战，他们为你而倒下，

他们在履行对你的誓言；

为了你，号角铮铮，

将死的勇士在祈祷。

你已经通过了一岁的死亡考验，

害怕被比喻为傲慢和自大。

直到将千年积郁的愤怒，

在可怕的瞬间来爆发。

接着，降下了愤怒的大雨，

各个国家令人恐惧地地动山摇；

它扫荡地球，直到原野一片火光，

到处是混杂男女老少的尸体。

国王们被冲进汪洋，

身下是蹲伏着托起他的奴隶；

懦夫和勇敢的人，

在血泊中一起倒下。