LESSON 125

A PSALM OF LIFE

生活赞美诗

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act—act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God o’erhead.

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;—

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

(Longfellow)

【中文阅读】

不要用悲伤的诗句告诉我，

人生只是虚幻的梦!

因为灵魂的昏睡无异死，

而事物与其表象不同。

人生多真切！要认真对待！

坟墓绝不是最后的归宿；

你本是尘土，落地终有处，

所指绝非灵魂本身。

我们命定的终点和道路

不是享乐，也不是悲苦；

是行动：要让每一个明天

比今天都更进一步。

学艺需时日，光阴飞逝步履匆匆，

我们的心尽管坚毅果敢，

却像隔音的鼓，

敲着哀乐走向坟场。

在这个世界的广阔战场

或在生活中的宿营之地，

别像默不作声的被驱赶的小牛！

要做一个能征惯战的英雄！

不要寄望将来，尽管那么美好！

让已死的过去把死来埋葬！

行动吧！趁着现在就行动吧！

心中一团热火，上帝在指引方向！

伟人的生平提醒我们，

我们能让我们的生命被人传扬，

一旦离开，我们身后的足迹

将会印在时间的沙土。

足迹，也许还有别的，

在静肃的生活之海远洋，

孤立无助而遭遇劫难的兄弟，

见那足迹后信心又重回胸膛。

让我们挺起身，行动起来，

凭对任何命运不低头的那颗火热的心，

不断成就，不断追求；

学会苦干，学会等候。

（朗费罗）