驶向拜占庭
Ⅰ
那地方可不是老人们待的。青年人
互相拥抱着，树上的鸟类
——那些垂死的世代——在歌吟。
有鲑鱼的瀑布，有鲭鱼的大海，
鱼、肉、禽整个夏天都赞扬不停
一切被养育、降生和死亡者。
他们都迷恋于种种肉感的音乐，
忽视了不朽的理性和杰作。
Ⅱ
一个老年人不过是卑微的物品，
披在一根拐杖上的破衣裳，
除非是他那颗灵魂拍手来歌吟，
为人世衣衫的破烂而大唱；
世界上没什么音乐院校不诵吟
自己的辉煌的里程碑作品，
因此上我驶过汪洋和大海万顷，
来到了这一个圣城拜占庭。
Ⅲ
啊，上帝圣火中站立的圣徒们，
如墙上金色的镶嵌砖所显示，
请走出圣火来，参加旋体的运行，
成为教我灵魂歌唱的导师。
消毁掉我的心，它执迷于六欲七情，
捆绑在垂死的动物身上而不知！
它自己的本性；请求你把我收进
那永恒不朽的手工艺精品。
Ⅳ
一旦我超脱了自然，我再也不要
从任何自然物取得体形，
而是要古希腊时代金匠所铸造，
锻金的和镀金那样的体型，
使那个昏昏欲睡的皇帝清醒；
或把我放在那金枝上歌吟，
歌唱那过去和未来或者是当今，
唱给拜占庭的老爷太太听。
袁可嘉 译
原文 Sailing to Byzantium
Ⅰ
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees,
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
Ⅱ
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
Ⅲ
O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
Ⅳ
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
参考
- 外国诗歌鉴赏辞典 3 现当代卷，杨恒达主编，上海辞书出版社，2010，第30-34页