那个降灵节，我走得晚，

That Whitsun, I was late getting away:

直到一个晴朗的

    Not till about

星期六下午一点二十分，

One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday

我那大半空着的火车才开动。

Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out,

车窗全关着，坐垫暖暖的，

All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense   

不再感到仓促了。我们经过

Of being in a hurry gone. We ran

许多房子的后面，穿过一条街，

Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street

玻璃窗亮得刺眼，闻到了鱼码头，

Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock; thence   

宽阔的河面平平地流开去，

The river’s level drifting breadth began,

林肯郡在那里同天和水相接。

Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet.

整个下午，穿过沉睡在内陆的高温，

All afternoon, through the tall heat that slept   

延续好多英里，

    For miles inland,

火车开开停停，缓慢地画一条南下的弧线。

A slow and stopping curve southwards we kept.   

开过了大农场，影子小小的牛群，

Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and   

浮着工业废品的运河，

Canals with floatings of industrial froth;   

罕见的暖房一闪而过，树篱随着地势

A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped   

起伏；偶然有草地的清香

And rose: and now and then a smell of grass   

代替了车厢椅套的气味，

Displaced the reek of buttoned carriage-cloth   

直到下一个城市，没有风格的新城，

Until the next town, new and nondescript,   

用整片的废汽车来迎接我们。

Approached with acres of dismantled cars.

一开始，我没注意到

At first, I didn’t notice what a noise

婚礼的动静，

    The weddings made

每个停车的站台闪着阳光，

Each station that we stopped at: sun destroys   

我对阴影里的活动没有兴趣，

The interest of what’s happening in the shade,

凉爽的长月台上有点喊声笑声，

And down the long cool platforms whoops and skirls   

我以为只是搬邮件的工人在闹着玩，

I took for porters larking with the mails,   

因此继续看我的书。等车一开动，

And went on reading. Once we started, though,   

我才看见经过一些笑着的亮发姑娘，

We passed them, grinning and pomaded, girls   

她们学着时髦，高跟鞋又加面纱，

In parodies of fashion, heels and veils,   

怯生生地站在月台上，看我们离开，

All posed irresolutely, watching us go,

像是在一桩公案结束之后，

As if out on the end of an event

挥手告别

    Waving goodbye

留下来的什么东西。这使我感到兴趣，

To something that survived it. Struck, I leant   

在下一站很快探出头来，

More promptly out next time, more curiously,   

看得更仔细，这才发现另一番景像:

And saw it all again in different terms:   

穿套装的父亲，腰系一根宽皮带，

The fathers with broad belts under their suits   

额角上全是皱纹；爱嚷嚷的胖母亲;

And seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat;   

大声说着脏话的舅舅；此外就是

An uncle shouting smut; and then the perms,   

新烫的发，尼龙手套，仿造的珠宝，

The nylon gloves and jewellery-substitutes,   

柠檬黄、紫红、茶青的衣料

The lemons, mauves, and olive-ochres that

把姑娘们同其他人分别开来。

Marked off the girls unreally from the rest.   

是的，从车场外边的

    Yes, from cafés

咖啡店，宴会厅，和插满彩旗的

And banquet-halls up yards, and bunting-dressed   

旅游团的休息室来看，结婚的日子

Coach-party annexes, the wedding-days   

已近尾声。在整个旅程中

Were coming to an end. All down the line

都有新婚夫妇上车，别的人站在一边，

Fresh couples climbed aboard: the rest stood round;

最后的纸花扔过了，随着最后的嘱咐;

The last confetti and advice were thrown,

而更向前行，每张脸似乎都表明

And, as we moved, each face seemed to define   

究竟看到什么在隐退:孩子们不高兴，

Just what it saw departing: children frowned   

由于沉闷；父亲们尝到了

At something dull; fathers had never known

从未有过的巨大成功，感到绝对滑稽;

Success so huge and wholly farcical;

女人们彼此私语，

    The women shared

共享秘密，如谈一次快活的葬礼;

The secret like a happy funeral;

而姑娘们，把手包抓得更紧，盯着

While girls, gripping their handbags tighter, stared   

一幅受难图。总算是自由了，

At a religious wounding. Free at last,

满载着他们所见的一切的总和，

And loaded with the sum of all they saw,

火车向伦敦急驰，拖着一串串蒸汽。

We hurried towards London, shuffling gouts of steam.   

现在田野换成了工地，白杨树

Now fields were building-plots, and poplars cast   

在主要公路上投下长长的影子，这样

Long shadows over major roads, and for

过了大约五十分钟，后来想起来，

Some fifty minutes, that in time would seem

这时间正够整一整帽子，说一声

Just long enough to settle hats and say

“可真把我急死了”，

    I nearly died, 

于是十几对男女过起了结婚生活。

A dozen marriages got under way.

他们紧靠坐着，看着窗外的风景──

They watched the landscape, sitting side by side

一家电影院过去了，一个冷却塔，

—An Odeon went past, a cooling tower,   

一个人跑着在投板球──却没有人

And someone running up to bowl—and none   

想到那些他们再也见不着的亲友，

Thought of the others they would never meet   

或今后一生里将保存当前这一时刻。

Or how their lives would all contain this hour.   

我想到舒展在阳光下的伦敦，

I thought of London spread out in the sun,   

它那紧密相连的邮区就像一块块麦田。

Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat:

那是我们的目的地。当我们快速开过

There we were aimed. And as we raced across   

闪亮的密集轨道，开过

    Bright knots of rail

静立的卧车，迎面来了长满藓苔的

Past standing Pullmans, walls of blackened moss   

黑墙，又一次旅行快要结束了，一次

Came close, and it was nearly done, this frail   

偶然的遇合，它的后果

Travelling coincidence; and what it held   

正待以人生变化的全部力量

Stood ready to be loosed with all the power   

奔腾而出。火车慢了下来，

That being changed can give. We slowed again,

当它完全停住的时候，出现了

And as the tightened brakes took hold, there swelled

一种感觉，像是从看不见的地方

A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower   

射出了密集的箭，落下来变成了雨。

Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.