LESSON 127

LINES TO A WATERFOWL

对水禽的描绘

Whither ’midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,

Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue

Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler’s eye

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,

As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,

Thy figure floats along.

Seek’st thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,

Or where the rocky billows rise and sink

On the chafed ocean side?

There is a Power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast.

The desert and illimitable air,

Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day, thy wings have fanned,

At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,

Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land

Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end,

Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,

And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,

Soon, o’er thy sheltered nest.

Thou’rt gone; the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart,

Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given,

And shall not soon depart.

He, who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,

In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright.

(Bryant)

【中文阅读】

无论哪里在滴落的露珠中间，

上天映出一天最后的脚步，

远方，穿过他们的玫瑰色的深渊，

你会执著于你的孤独之路？

捕水禽者目光茫然空洞

远处飞着的目标致你犯错，

随着，深红色天空漆上了黑色，

那影子独自游荡。

你寻找杂草丛生的湖畔

潮湿的边缘，或者宽阔的河沿，

摇摇晃晃的巨浪涌起

在斑驳的海滨沉下？

有一种力量想

教会你在没路的海滩漫步。

沙漠和无垠的天空，

独自徘徊，但不会迷失。

一整天，你的翅膀都张着，

在极远的高处，空气冰冷又稀薄，

为了到梦想之地，不会弯腰屈从，也不会疲累

虽然暗夜就要来临。

奔波很快就要到尽头，

你很快就会发现夏日之家，在那里筑巢栖息，

你的伙伴传出尖叫；芦苇就在身下，

很快，就要到你避身的巢了。

你去了；天渊

吞进你的身体；然而，在我心底

你留给我的教训烙在上面，那么深，

不会很快抹平。

从一个地方到另一个地方的他

通过无垠的天空指引你展翅高飞，

漫漫长路我要独自走，

引领我走正路。

（布莱恩特）