Let us go then, you and I,

那么，让我们走，你和我，

When the evening is spread out against the sky

当暮色背靠着天空伸展着，

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

象被麻醉的病人躺在手术台上;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

让我们走，穿过行人稀少的街道，

The muttering retreats

走过通夜难眠的廉价客店

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

人声嘁喳的僻静角落;

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

走过满地锯屑与牡蛎壳的饭馆：

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

街连着街，象冗长的辩论

Of insidious intent

居心不善

To lead you to an overwhelming question ...

把你引向那难以回答的问题……

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

哦别问个所以然，

Let us go and make our visit.

让我们走，去拜见。

In the room the women come and go

房间里女人来去如梭，

Talking of Michelangelo.

老是在谈米开朗基罗。

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,

黄雾在窗子上蹭背，

The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,

黄烟在窗子上蹭嘴，

Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,

舌头舔着夜晚的四角，

Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,

在干涸的水坑上徘徊，

Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,

烟囱掉出的煤灰落在它背上，

Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,

它从阳台边溜过， 突然跳起，

And seeing that it was a soft October night,

但它看到这是温柔的十月之夜，

Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

又蜷缩在房子周围， 沉沉入睡。

And indeed there will be time

确实有个时间

For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,

让黄烟沿街滑行

Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;

在窗子上蹭背;

There will be time, there will be time

有个时间， 有个时间，

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

准备一张脸去面对你会见的脸;

There will be time to murder and create,

有个时间， 用来杀人， 用来创造，

And time for all the works and days of hands

让那些举起问题又丢进你盘里的手

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

去完成工作， 结束一天天日子。

Time for you and time for me,

有个时间给你， 有个时间给我，

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

有个时间先来一百个犹豫，

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

先来一百个观察， 一百个修正，

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

然后再去吃茶点。

In the room the women come and go

房间里女人来去如梭，

Talking of Michelangelo.

老是在谈米开朗基罗。

And indeed there will be time

确实总有个时间，

To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”

问一声“我敢不敢?”“我敢不敢?”

Time to turn back and descend the stair,

总有个时间转身走下楼梯，

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —

头发中带了一个秃斑——

(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)

(人们会说：“他头发越来越稀!”)

My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,

My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —

我的晨礼服，顶住下巴，领子笔挺，

(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)

我的领结华丽又文静，只用一个简朴的扣针固定，

Do I dare

(人们会说：“他的手臂和腿可真细!”)

Disturb the universe?

我敢不敢

In a minute there is time

把宇宙扰乱?

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

一分钟内就必须做出

决定和修正，过一分钟再推翻。

For I have known them all already, known them all:

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

我早就熟悉她们每个人，全都熟悉，

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

我已经熟悉晚上、下午、早晨，

I know the voices dying with a dying fall

我已经用咖啡匙量过我的一生;

Beneath the music from a farther room.

我熟悉远处房间传来的音乐声里

               So how should I presume?

那渐渐变轻而终于消失的人声，

可我哪敢冒昧行事?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all—

The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,

我早就熟悉这些眼睛，全都熟悉——

And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,

它们把你固定在一句程式化的短语中，

When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,

当我被程式化，趴在一根针下，

Then how should I begin

当我被钉在墙上，四肢扭动，

To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?

那时我如何才能吐出

               And how should I presume?

我平日生活方式的烟蒂?

我哪敢冒昧行事?

And I have known the arms already, known them all—

Arms that are braceleted and white and bare

我早就熟悉这些手臂，全都熟悉——

(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)

那带手镯的白洁的裸臂，

Is it perfume from a dress

(可是灯光映出淡棕色的茸毛，)

That makes me so digress?

是从衣衫上传来的香味

Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.

使我如此语无伦次?

               And should I then presume?

是搁在桌上的， 或裹着纱巾的手臂。

               And how should I begin?

难道我必须冒昧行事，

叫我如何开始?

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets

And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes

我该不该说， 在暮色中我穿过狭窄的街道

Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...

看到没穿外套的孤独者倚在窗边

从他的烟斗中升起缕缕白烟?……

I should have been a pair of ragged claws

Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

我想必是一双褴褛的爪子

在宁静的海底乱窜。

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!

Smoothed by long fingers,

而这下午， 这夜晚， 睡得多安宁!

Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,

细长的手指抚摸着它，

Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.

睡着了……倦了……要不就是装病，

Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,

在你我身边， 在地板上伸展四肢。

Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?

难道我在用过茶点和冷食之后

But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,

就有力量把时间推上紧要关头?

Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,

尽管我哭着斋戒过， 哭着祈祷过，

I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;

尽管我见到我的脑袋 (有些秃顶) 放在盘里端来，

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

我也不是先知——而这也无甚干碍;

And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,

我已经见到我的伟大时刻闪闪摇摇，

And in short, I was afraid.

我见到永生的脚伕拿着我的大衣向我冷笑，

一句话， 我怕。

And would it have been worth it, after all,

归根到底，这是否值得一做?

After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,

喝过茶，吃过果酱，

Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,

在杯盘之间，在你我闲谈时，

Would it have been worth while,

是否值得面带微笑

To have bitten off the matter with a smile,

把这事情一口咬掉?

To have squeezed the universe into a ball

是否值得把宇宙挤成一个球

To roll it towards some overwhelming question,

滚向一个叫人无法回答的问题，

To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,

是否值得说： “我是拉撒路，来自阴间，

Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”—

我回来告诉你们一切。”

If one, settling a pillow by her head

万一此人，在头边放个枕垫，

               Should say: “That is not what I meant at all;

竟然说：“我根本无此意，

               That is not it, at all.”

根本不是这么回事。”

And would it have been worth it, after all,

归根到底，这是否值得一做?

Would it have been worth while,

是否值得，

After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,

经过庭院、撒水的街道、多次日落，

After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—

经过小说、茶杯、曳地长裙，

And this, and so much more?—

经过这个那个，还经过那么多事——

It is impossible to say just what I mean!

简直没法说出我想说的意思!

But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:

但就象魔灯在神经图案映到幕上：

Would it have been worth while

是否还值得一做

If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,

万一此人，放下枕头、甩开纱巾，

And turning toward the window, should say:

朝窗子扭过脸，竟然说：

               “That is not it at all,

“完全不是这么回事，

               That is not what I meant, at all.”

我完全无此意，根本没这意思。”

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

不! 我不是哈姆雷特王子， 生来不是;

Am an attendant lord, one that will do

我只是个扈从的廷臣， 我的工作

To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

只是使王家行列壮观些， 念念开场白，

Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

给王子出主意， 当然， 是驯顺的工具，

Deferential, glad to be of use,

唯唯诺诺， 很高兴终得一用，

Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

处世小心， 事事谨慎;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

满嘴高调， 却颇为颟顸，

At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—

有时候确实近乎可笑——

Almost, at times, the Fool.

有时， 几乎是小丑。

I grow old ... I grow old ...

我老了……我老了……

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

我得翻卷裤脚。

Shall I part my hair behind?   Do I dare to eat a peach?

我脑后头发要不要两边分? 我敢不敢吃桃子?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

我要穿白色呢裤， 在海滨漫步，

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

我听到了美人鱼对唱的歌声。

I do not think that they will sing to me.

我想他们不会是唱给我听。

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

我见到她们骑在浪尖向大海驰去，

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

梳理着波浪被风吹起的长鬃，

When the wind blows the water white and black.

这时风把海水扰得黑白相混。

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

我们在大海的宫室里留连忘返，

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

海女们给我们戴上红棕色海草花环，

一旦被人声唤醒，我们就得淹死。