I

一

In my beginning is my end. In succession

在我的开始中是我的结束。隆替演变

Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,

屋宇建起又倒坍、倾圮又重新扩建，

Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place

迁移，毁坏，修复，或在原址

Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.

出现一片空旷的田野，或一座工厂，或一条间道。

Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires,

旧石筑新楼，古木升新火，

Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth

旧火变灰烬，灰烬化黄土，

Which is already flesh, fur and faeces,

而黄土如今已化为肉，毛，粪，

Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.

人和兽的骨，麦秆和绿叶。

Houses live and die: there is a time for building

屋宇有生也有死：有建造的时候

And a time for living and for generation

也有供生活和蕃衍生息的时候，

And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane

有给大风吹落松弛的窗玻璃

And to shake the wainscot where the field-mouse trots

摇动田鼠在来回奔驰的护壁板

And to shake the tattered arras woven with a silent motto.

吹起绣着沉默箴言的破挂毡的时候。

    In my beginning is my end. Now the light falls

在我的开始中是我的结束。此刻阳光

Across the open field, leaving the deep lane

掠过空旷的田野而隐去，留下深巷

Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon,

任繁密的树叶把它掩住，你在暮色苍茫中

Where you lean against a bank while a van passes,

倚着岸堤，一辆货车从身边驶过，

And the deep lane insists on the direction

深巷固执地向村里伸展，在炙人的暑热中

Into the village, in the electric heat

村子已摧入梦乡。在暖烘烘的氤氲里那燠热的光

Hypnotised. In a warm haze the sultry light

被灰色的石头吸收了，而不是折射。

Is absorbed, not refracted, by grey stone.

大丽花丛沉睡在空阒的寂静中。

The dahlias sleep in the empty silence.

等待着早来的枭鸟。

Wait for the early owl.

　　　　　　　　在空旷的田野

                                    In that open field

假如你不走得太近，假如你不走得太近，

If you do not come too close, if you do not come too close,

在一个夏天的夜半，就就能听到

On a summer midnight, you can hear the music

那轻柔的笛子和小鼓的音乐，

Of the weak pipe and the little drum

看见他们围着篝火跳舞，

And see them dancing around the bonfire

男人和女人结对而舞，着是在举行婚礼——

The association of man and woman

一种庄严而方便的圣礼。

In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie—

一双双一对对，必然的结合，

A dignified and commodiois sacrament.

他们互相手拉手或臂膀挽着臂膀

Two and two, necessarye coniunction,

表示情投意合。一圈又一圈地围着篝火

Holding eche other by the hand or the arm

或加入舞伴们的圆圈，或穿过熊熊火焰

Whiche betokeneth concorde. Round and round the fire

婆娑起舞，质朴而严肃，或发出村野的笑声

Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles,

提起穿着笨拙的鞋子的沉重的脚，

Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter

泥脚，沾着沃土的脚、

Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes,

沉浸在村野的欢乐——那久远以来

Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth

在地里滋育谷物的人们的欢乐之中。

Mirth of those long since under earth

他们按着生命的不同季节安排生活一样。

Nourishing the corn. Keeping time,

有四季更替和星辰出没的时间

Keeping the rhythm in their dancing

有挤奶的时间和收获的时间

As in their living in the living seasons

有男人和女人匹配成婚的时间

The time of the seasons and the constellations

也有野兽交配的时间。两脚提起和放下。

The time of milking and the time of harvest

吃和喝。拉撒和死亡。

The time of the coupling of man and woman

And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling.

东方破晓，另一个白天

Eating and drinking. Dung and death.

又为炎热和寂静作准备。晨风在海上

吹起了波纹，掠海而去。我在这里

    Dawn points, and another day

或在那里，或在别处。在我的开始中。

Prepares for heat and silence. Out at sea the dawn wind

Wrinkles and slides. I am here

Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning.

二

迟留的十一月

II

需要春天的困扰吗？

需要夏暑的创造物

What is the late November doing

和那脚下缠绕的雪花吗，

With the disturbance of the spring

需要那一心想扶摇直上

And creatures of the summer heat,

却由红变灰终于跌落下来的蜀葵，

And snowdrops writhing under feet

需要那盖满了初雪的凋零的玫瑰吗？

And hollyhocks that aim too high

流驰的星星敲响了雷声隆隆

Red into grey and tumble down

好似意气洋洋的战车

Late roses filled with early snow?

部署在群星会集的战斗中。

Thunder rolled by the rolling stars

天蝎星攻打太阳

Simulates triumphal cars

直打得太阳和月亮沉落

Deployed in constellated wars

彗星暗暗哭泣而流星飞驰

Scorpion fights against the Sun

追逐在一阵旋风中旋转的苍穹和大地

Until the Sun and Moon go down

在冰雪君临大地之前旋风就将世界

Comets weep and Leonids fly

卷向燃烧着的毁灭之火。

Hunt the heavens and the plains

Whirled in a vortex that shall bring

这不失为一种表达方式——但不太令人满意：

The world to that destructive fire

用一种陈旧的诗歌形式进行一次转弯抹角的研究，

Which burns before the ice-cap reigns.

而把人们始终留在一场跟语言和涵义

作无法容忍的扭打中。诗歌无关宗旨。

    That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory:

这并不是（重新开始）人们过去所期待的。

A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,

人们多年期待的东西，它的价值将是什么，

Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle

多年企望的平静，秋天般的平静

With words and meanings. The poetry does not matter.

和老年的睿智，这一切又将有什么价值？

It was not (to start again) what one had expected.

音容消寂的前辈他们遗赠给我们的只是欺骗的诀窍，

What was to be the value of the long looked forward to,

他们是骗了我们还是骗了他们自己？

Long hoped for calm, the autumnal serenity

平静不过是一种有意的愚騃,

And the wisdom of age? Had they deceived us

睿智不过是懂得一些已经失效的秘诀，

Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,

对他们在黑暗中窥视黑暗

Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?

或置黑暗于不顾都没有什么用处。

The serenity only a deliberate hebetude,

在我们看来，来自经验的知识

The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets

似乎只有一种有限的价值。

Useless in the darkness into which they peered

知识把一个模式强加于人，然后欺骗人，

Or from which they turned their eyes. There is, it seems to us,

因为模式在每一瞬间都是新的

At best, only a limited value

而每一瞬间又都是对我们以往的一切

In the knowledge derived from experience.

作出一次新的骇人的评价。我们只是因为欺骗

The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,

已不再能伤害我们，才没有受骗而已。

For the pattern is new in every moment

在人生的中途，不禁在旅程的中途

And every moment is a new and shocking

而且是全部历程，我们都在黑暗的森林中，荆棘中，

Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived

在沼泽的边缘，那里没有安全的落脚点

Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.

而且受到各种魔怪和虚幻的光明的威胁

In the middle, not only in the middle of the way

引诱你去冒险。别让我听取

But all the way, in a dark wood, in a bramble,

老年人的睿智，不如听他们的愚行，

On the edge of a grimpen, where is no secure foothold,

他们对恐惧和狂乱的恐惧，他们对财产的恐惧，

And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,

对属于另一个人，属于别人或属于上帝的恐惧。

Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear

我们唯一能希冀获得的睿智

Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,

是谦卑的睿智：谦卑是永无止境的。

Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,

Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.

屋宇房舍都已沉入大海。

The only wisdom we can hope to acquire

Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.

跳舞的人们都已长眠山下。

    The houses are all gone under the sea.

三

    The dancers are all gone under the hill.

啊黑暗黑暗黑暗。他们都走进了黑暗，

空虚的星际之间的空间，空虚进入空虚，

III

上校们，银行家们，知名的文学家们，

慷慨大度的艺术赞助人、政治家和统治者，

O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,

显要的文官们，形形色色的委员主席们，

The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,

工业巨子和卑微的承包商们都走进了黑暗，

The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,

太阳和月亮也暗淡无光了，哥达年鉴

The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers,

证券市场报和董事姓名录都黯然失色了，

Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,

感觉冷却，行动的动机也已经消失。

Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark,

于是我们大家和他们同行，走进肃穆的葬礼，

And dark the Sun and Moon, and the Almanach de Gotha

不是谁的葬礼，因为没有谁要埋葬。

And the Stock Exchange Gazette, the Directory of Directors,

我对我的灵魂说，别作声，让黑暗降临在你的身上

And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.

这准是上帝的黑暗。正如在剧场里

And we all go with them, into the silent funeral,

为了变换场景，灯光熄灭了，

Nobody's funeral, for there is no one to bury.

舞台两厢一阵沉重的辘辘声，在黑暗里

I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you

随着一番黑暗的动作，我们知道

Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,

群山，树林，远处的活动画景

The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed

还有那显目而堂皇的正面装设都在移走——

With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,

或者象一列地铁火车，在地道里，在车站与车站之间停得太久

And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama

旅客们交谈之声纷起，又逐渐消寂于静默，

And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—

而你在每张脸孔后面看到内心的空虚正在加深

Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations

只留下没有什么可想的恐惧在心头升起；

And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence

或者像上了麻醉以后，头脑清醒却无所感觉——

And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen

我对我的灵魂说，别作声，耐心等待但不要寄予希望，

Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;

因为希望会变成对虚妄的希望；

Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing—

耐心等待但不要怀有爱恋，

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope

因为爱恋会变成对虚妄的爱恋；纵然犹有信心，

For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,

但是信心、爱和希望都在等待之中。

For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith

耐心等待但不要思索，因为你还没有准备好思索：

But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.

这样黑暗必将变得光明，静止也将变成舞蹈。

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

潺潺的溪水在低语，冬天有雷电闪烁。

Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.

野百合花和野草莓没有被人赏识，

The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,

花园里那曾回想过当年狂喜的笑声

The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy

如今尤未消寂，但是在要求并暗示

Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony

死亡与降生的痛苦。

Of death and birth.

　　　　　　　　你说我是在重复

我以前说过的话。我还要再说一遍。

                                    You say I am repeating

要我再说一遍吗？为了要到达那儿，

Something I have said before. I shall say it again.

到达现在你所在的地方，离开现在你不在的地方，

Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,

　你必须经历一条其中并无引人入胜之处的道路。

To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,

为了最终理解你所不理解的，

    You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.

　你必须经历一条愚昧无知的道路。

In order to arrive at what you do not know

为了占有你从未占有的东西，

    You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.

　你必须经历被剥夺的道路。

In order to possess what you do not possess

为了达到你现在所不在的名位，

    You must go by the way of dispossession.

　你必须经历那条你不在其中的道路。

In order to arrive at what you are not

你所不了解的正是你所唯一了解的，

    You must go through the way in which you are not.

而你所拥有的正是你所并不拥有的，

And what you do not know is the only thing you know

而你所在的地方也正是你所不在的地方。

And what you own is what you do not own

And where you are is where you are not.

四

IV

受伤的医生挥动着钢刀

细心探究发病的部位；

The wounded surgeon plies the steel

在流血的双手下我们感觉到

That questions the distempered part;

医生满怀强烈同情的技艺

Beneath the bleeding hands we feel

在揭开体温图表上的谜。

The sharp compassion of the healer's art

我们仅有的健康是疾病

Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

如果我们听从那位垂危的护士——

她坚定不移的关注不是使我们欢欣

    Our only health is the disease

而是提醒我们和亚当蒙受的灾祸，

If we obey the dying nurse

一旦灾祸重临，我们的病必将变为沉疴。

Whose constant care is not to please

But to remind of our, and Adam's curse,

整个世界是我们的医院

And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse.

由那个不幸的百万富翁资助，

在那里，如果我们的病况好转，

    The whole earth is our hospital

我们就将死于专制的父爱的关注，

Endowed by the ruined millionaire,

它须臾不离引导着我们，不论我们身在何处。

Wherein, if we do well, we shall

冷意从两脚间升向膝盖，

Die of the absolute paternal care

热度在精神的弦线中歌词。

That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.

如果使我暖和起来，那么，我准会在

寒冷的地狱之火中站立而冻僵，

    The chill ascends from feet to knees,

炼火的烈焰是玫瑰，而浓烟是多刺的荆棘。

The fever sings in mental wires.

If to be warmed, then I must freeze

滴出的血是我们唯一的饮料，

And quake in frigid purgatorial fires

血腥的肉是我们唯一的食粮，

Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.

即使这样，我们仍然乐于称道

我们是有血有肉的人，结实而又健康——

    The dripping blood our only drink,

同样，尽管如此，我们称道这个星期五好。

The bloody flesh our only food:

In spite of which we like to think

That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—

五

Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.

我就在这里，在旅程的中途，已经有二十年——

二十个大半虚度的年月，介于两次大战的年月——

V

试着学会使用语言，而每一次尝试

都是一次完全新的开始，也是一次性质不同的失败，

So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years—

因为你不过是为了叙述那已经不必再叙述

Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres

或者你已经不想再那样叙述的事情

Trying to use words, and every attempt

而学习怎样驾御语言的。所以每次冒险从事

Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure

都是一次新的开始，一次用破敝的装备

Because one has only learnt to get the better of words

向无法言述的事物发动的袭击，最后总是溃不成军

For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which

只留下不准确的感觉乱作一团，

One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture

一群没有纪律的激情的乌合之众。

Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate

而那需要你用气力和谦逊去征服的一切，

With shabby equipment always deteriorating

早已被那些你无法企及的人们

In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,

一次或两次，或好多次所发现——但是没有竞争——

Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer

只有去找回那已经失去的东西，

By strength and submission, has already been discovered

但一旦找到又重新失去，又去寻找，

Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope

这样循环反复的斗争。而现在似乎处于

To emulate—but there is no competition—

不利的条件之下。但也许既无所得也无所失。

There is only the fight to recover what has been lost

对于我们，唯有尝试自己，此外则非我们所能为力。

And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions

That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.

家是我们出发的地方。随着我们年岁渐老

For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.

世界变为陌路人，死与生的模式更为复杂。

那已与我们隔绝——没有以前也没有以后的，

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older

不是那感情强烈的瞬间，而是每瞬间都在燃烧的一生，

The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated

不仅是一个人的一生，而且也是

Of dead and living. Not the intense moment

那些如今无法辨认的古老石碑的一生。

Isolated, with no before and after,

有在星光下的黄昏时刻，

But a lifetime burning in every moment

有在灯光下的黄昏时刻

And not the lifetime of one man only

（在灯下翻阅相片薄的黄昏）。

But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

为此时此地无关紧要之际，

There is a time for the evening under starlight,

爱最近乎它自己。

A time for the evening under lamplight

老年人应该是探索者，

(The evening with the photograph album).

此地或彼地无关大局，

Love is most nearly itself

我们必须静静地继续前进，

When here and now cease to matter.

越过黑暗的寒冷和空阒无人的废墟，

Old men ought to be explorers

越过波涛的呼啸，大封的怒号，

Here or there does not matter

海鸟和海豚的浩淼大海，进入另一个感情的强度，

We must be still and still moving

为了获得更进一步的一致，更深入的交流。

Into another intensity

在我的结束中是我的开始。

For a further union, a deeper communion

Through the dark cold and the empty desolation,

The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters

Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.