蜥蜴扑向小小的猎物

Where the lizard ran to its little prey

有一天骑者飞驰而过

And a man on a horse rode by in a day

他们建好机库：一个大陆

They set their hangars: a continent

教新兵理解它那不可爱的意图

Taught its conscripts its unloved intent

在这乱窜的火中，歌唱的铅弹——

In the scrawled fire, the singing lead—

是活者和死者拟定的草案。

Protocols of the quick and dead.

受伤的炮手，他的使命已了结，

The wounded gunner, his missions done,

还在茫然地向靶场的太阳射击；

Fired absently in the the range's sun;

那职员挂着墨盒好像锁链，

And, chained with cartridges, the clerk

浑身流汗坐着做战时工作。

Sat sweating at his war-time work.

一次又一次——冷酷的机群，

The cold flights bombed—again, again—

炸出月球平原上的巨坑……

The craters of the lunar plain....

这一切是无价的：人拿了钱

All this was priceless: men were paid

就是为了演习空袭投弹，

For these rehearsals of the raids

空袭消耗城市，真是神速，

That used up cities at a rate

只留下炭块，没有一个国家

That left the coals without a State

还想要别人的炭；直到一边最终，

To call another's; till the worse

落败，毫无悔恨地让出

Ceded at last, without remorse,

他们征服的地方给征服者。

Their conquests to their conquerors.

方程式中不可能有两个大国。

The equations were without two powers.

利润和死亡一齐变得微不足道：

Profits and death grow marginal:

只有哀悼者和被哀悼者会去想

Only the mourning and the mourned recall

我们输掉的战争，我们赢得的战争；

The wars we lose, the wars we win;

世界依旧——一如往昔时辰。

And the world is—what it has been.

蜥蜴的舌头愤怒地舔着

The lizard's tongue licks angrily

苍蝇那已经破碎的翅膜。

The shattered membranes of the fly.