Towards the end he sailed into an extraordinary mildness,
朝向终点驶入了异常温暖的水域，
And anchored in his home and reached his wife
他锚泊于家庭，攀得了一门亲事，
And rode within the harbour of her hand,
就此停靠在妻子悉心看护的港湾里，
And went each morning to an office
他每天起早摸黑去往一间办公室
As though his occupation were another island.
仿佛他的职业是另一座岛屿。
Goodness existed: that was the new knowledge.
“良善”仍在：那是新的知识。
His terror had to blow itself quite out
他的恐惧只得自行消散
To let him see it; but it was the gale had blown him
以便他看个分明；但一股狂风将他
Past the Cape Horn of sensible success
刮过了现实功名的合恩角，它叫道：
Which cries: “This rock is Eden. Shipwreck here.”
“这礁石就是伊甸园。在这儿毁灭。”
But deafened him with thunder and confused with lightning:
雷声使他耳聋，闪电令他迷乱：
–The maniac hero hunting like a jewel
——疯狂的英雄如寻找宝石，追逐着
The rare ambiguous monster that had maimed his sex,
那个导致他性无能的稀罕可疑的怪物，
The unexplained survivor breaking off the nightmare–
冤冤相报在一声尖叫中了结，
All that was intricate and false; the truth was simple.
不作解释的生还者摆脱了噩梦——
一切复杂又虚幻；真相如此简单。
Evil is unspectacular and always human,
And shares our bed and eats at our own table,
而“恶”毫不起眼，总那么有人情味，
And we are introduced to Goodness every day,
与我们同床共眠，跟我们同桌吃饭，
Even in drawing-rooms among a crowd of faults;
而我们每天都被带到“良善”那里，
He has a name like Billy and is almost perfect,
即便在客厅里被一大堆错误所包围；
But wears a stammer like a decoration:
它有个名字譬如比利，也几近完美，
却患了口吃如戴着一个装饰品：
And every time they meet the same thing has to happen;
It is the Evil that is helpless like a lover
它们每次都遇到了同样的必然情形；
And has to pick a quarrel and succeeds,
“恶”竟如此无助有如一个恋人，
And both are openly destroyed before our eyes.
定会找茬寻衅，然后大功告成，
接着在我们眼皮底下双双被摧毁。
For now he was awake and knew
No one is ever spared except in dreams;
此刻他已醒觉过来，且知道
But there was something else the nightmare had distorted–
没人会一直幸免除非是身在梦境；
Even the punishment was human and a form of love:
但还有其他东西已被噩梦扭曲——
The howling storm had been his father’s presence
连惩罚也温情，变成了爱的一种形式：
And all the time he had been carried on his father’s breast.
咆哮的暴风雨曾是他父亲的显灵，
他自始至终都被裹挟在父亲的胸前。
Who now had set him gently down and left him.
He stood upon the narrow balcony and listened:
此刻父亲将他轻轻放下，已离他而去。
And all the stars above him sang as in his childhood
站在逼仄的阳台上，他凝神细听：
“All, all is vanity,” but it was not the same;
头顶，众星如他童年时那样齐声歌唱：
For now the words descended like the calm of mountains–
“万事，万事皆虚空”，但歌声已不同；
–Nathaniel had been shy because his love was selfish–
因为此刻，词句如山间寂静般悄然降临——
Reborn, he cried in exultation and surrender
纳撒尼尔的畏缩，皆因他自私的爱
“The Godhead is broken like bread. We are the pieces.”
——当重获新生，他喜极而泣、就此顺服：
“神性破碎如面包。我们就是那碎屑。”
And sat down at his desk and wrote a story.
于是在书桌前坐下，他写出了一个故事。