一．

I

在我的开始是我的终点。

In my beginning is my end. In succession

持续不断地

Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,

房屋建起又倾颓，瓦解，又扩展

Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place

迁移，破败，重修，或在原址上

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

出现一片空旷的原野，或一家工厂，或一条间道。

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

旧石变作新楼，旧木变作新火，

Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth

旧火变为灰烬，灰烬化作泥土。

Which is already flesh, fur and faeces,

泥土又化作了血肉、皮毛和粪便，

Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.

化作人与兽的骨头、稻草和叶子。

Houses live and die: there is a time for building

房屋活着又死掉：它有建造的时间

And a time for living and for generation

有生存和更新换代的时期

And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane

有被风吹打的日子——窗棂破碎，

And to shake the wainscot where the field-mouse trots

壁板松脱——老鼠在上面跑来跑去，

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

织着箴言的挂毯破烂不堪，在风里摇晃。

    In my beginning is my end. Now the light falls

在我的开始是我的结束。现在，日光降落，

Across the open field, leaving the deep lane

掠过空旷的原野，只留下一条幽深的小路，

Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon,

被树木遮掩；昏暗的下午，

Where you lean against a bank while a van passes,

你倚着堤岸，一辆货车从身边驶过。

And the deep lane insists on the direction

幽深的小路，固执地朝着

Into the village, in the electric heat

村庄的方向伸展，在炙热中

Hypnotised. In a warm haze the sultry light

被催眠。在朦胧的暖雾中，阳光

Is absorbed, not refracted, by grey stone.

被灰色的石头吸收，而不是反射，

The dahlias sleep in the empty silence.

大丽花在空寂中沉睡，

Wait for the early owl.

等到早来的猫头鹰。

                                    In that open field

在那空旷的原野，

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

如果你不走得太近，如果你不走得太近，

On a summer midnight, you can hear the music

你会在夏日的子夜，听到音乐

Of the weak pipe and the little drum

由柔弱的笛子和小鼓演奏，

And see them dancing around the bonfire

会看到篝火旁的舞蹈，男女结对

The association of man and woman

而舞，——为婚礼而举行？

In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie—

一桩庄严而便捷的圣礼？

A dignified and commodiois sacrament.

成双结对，必然的结合。

Two and two, necessarye coniunction,

以手或臂膀相拥，

Holding eche other by the hand or the arm

昭示和谐美满。围绕着篝火，

Whiche betokeneth concorde. Round and round the fire

人们跳过火焰，或加入圆形的队列

Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles,

加入这朴拙的庄严或无羁的大笑，

Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter

抬起穿着笨重鞋子的脚，

Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes,

粘着泥土，肥沃的泥土，抬起来，在乡野的欢笑中，

Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth

这欢笑发自地下，长久以来

Mirth of those long since under earth

滋养着地上的谷物。踏着节拍，

Nourishing the corn. Keeping time,

在韵律中起舞，

Keeping the rhythm in their dancing

就像他们的生活，生活在季节更替的节律中，

As in their living in the living seasons

挤牛奶的时刻与丰收的时刻，

The time of the seasons and the constellations

男女婚配的时刻与

The time of milking and the time of harvest

野兽交合的时刻。脚抬起，放下。

The time of the coupling of man and woman

吃与喝，排泄与死亡。

And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling.

Eating and drinking. Dung and death.

破晓时分，新的一天，

准备着新的炎热和沉寂。晨风掠过海面，

    Dawn points, and another day

吹起波纹，滑行而去。我在这里

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

或那里，或别处。在我的开始。

Wrinkles and slides. I am here

Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning.

二．

II

这个十一月在做什么，用

春天的搅扰，

What is the late November doing

夏暑的造物，

With the disturbance of the spring

脚下翻腾的雪块，

And creatures of the summer heat,

向往过高却由红变灰

And snowdrops writhing under feet

跌落下来的蜀葵，

And hollyhocks that aim too high

和盖满初雪的迟开的玫瑰？

Red into grey and tumble down

雷声滚过运转的群星，

Late roses filled with early snow?

似凯旋的战车

Thunder rolled by the rolling stars

驶过星座汇集的战场，

Simulates triumphal cars

天蝎与太阳争锋，

Deployed in constellated wars

直至日月沉落

Scorpion fights against the Sun

彗星哭泣，狮子座流星飞驰

Until the Sun and Moon go down

追捕处于一团漩涡中旋转

Comets weep and Leonids fly

的天空和大地；这漩涡

Hunt the heavens and the plains

把世界卷入毁灭之火

Whirled in a vortex that shall bring

直到冰雪君临大地。

The world to that destructive fire

Which burns before the ice-cap reigns.

这曾是一种诗意的表达方式——并不尽人意：

用一种过时的风格进行拐弯抹角的尝试，之后

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

人们仍然被留在同词语和内涵

A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,

进行的令人难以忍受的搏斗中。诗歌并非重点所在。

Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle

它不是（重新开始）人们所期待的事物。

With words and meanings. The poetry does not matter.

什么才是人们长久以来渴求的价值，

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

久久期盼的宁静，秋日的安详

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

或岁月的智慧？它们曾欺骗我们，

Long hoped for calm, the autumnal serenity

或欺骗它们自己？那音容消逝的长者，

And the wisdom of age? Had they deceived us

遗赠给我们的仅是一张谎言的签收单？

Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,

平静只是一种刻意的愚蠢，

Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?

智慧只是无用的知识

The serenity only a deliberate hebetude,

是黑暗——他们在其中凝视，或移开目光——中关于

The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets

死去的秘密的知识。由此，看来

Useless in the darkness into which they peered

它们只是有限的价值，

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

在出自经验的知识中。

At best, only a limited value

知识塑造出一个样品，它弄虚作假，

In the knowledge derived from experience.

这样品在每一刻都是新的

The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,

而且在每一刻都是重新对我们过往一切

For the pattern is new in every moment

进行的骇人的估价。只有在欺骗

And every moment is a new and shocking

不再有害时，我们才能不受骗。

Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived

在中间，不仅是在路途中间，

Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.

而是自始至终，在黑暗的树林里，在荆棘丛中，

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

在沼泽的边缘，没有安全的立足之地，

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

而且伴着鬼怪与异光的胁迫，

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

经受着中邪的危险。别让我们听从

And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,

长者的智慧，不如听从他们的愚行，

Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear

听从他们对疯狂和恐惧的恐惧，他们对财产的恐惧，

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

对被另一个人，被他人，甚或被上帝奴役的恐惧。

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

唯一我们可以祈求得到的智慧

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

是谦卑：谦卑是无止境的。

The only wisdom we can hope to acquire

Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.

所有的房屋都沉入大海。

所有的舞者都长眠山下。

    The houses are all gone under the sea.

    The dancers are all gone under the hill.

三．

哦，黑暗黑暗黑暗。他们都进入黑暗，

III

空荡荡的星际太空，空虚进入空虚，

上校们，银行家们，显赫的文字工作者们，

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

慷慨的艺术赞助人，政治家和统治者们，

The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,

显要的都市公仆们，各色委员会主席，

The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,

工业巨子和卑微的承包商们，都进入黑暗，

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

日月也隐去光芒，哥达年鉴

Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,

证券市场报，董事名录，

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

冷却了感觉，失去了行动的欲望。

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

我们都将跟随他们，进入肃穆的葬礼，

And the Stock Exchange Gazette, the Directory of Directors,

无人的葬礼，因为没有人要下葬。

And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.

我对自己的灵魂说，安静，让黑暗降临于你

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

那将是上帝的黑暗。就像，在一座剧院里，

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

为了变幻场景，灯光消失了，

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

随着一阵空寂的翅膀的摩挲声，随着一阵移动，在黑暗之上的黑暗中，

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

我们知道小山，树林，远景，

The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed

和那些显眼的正面装设，都被移走；

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

或者，像是一辆地下的火车，当它在两个车站之间的隧道里，停留得太久

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

乘客们的谈话声响起，又逐渐陷入沉默，

And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—

于是，你透过每张脸看到正在加深的内心的空虚，

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

大脑一片空白，只剩下恐惧在增长；

And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence

或者，在苍穹之下，思维变得清醒却无可思想——

And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen

我对自己的灵魂说，安静，等待但无须希望，

Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;

因为希望可能是对不善之物的渴望；等待但无须爱念，

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

因为爱有可能是对不善之物的爱恋；信念也同样如此，

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

然而，信念、爱和希望都处于等待之中，

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

等待但没有思考，因为你还没有为思考做好准备：

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

于是，黑暗成为光明，静止成为舞蹈。

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

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

淙淙的溪水，冬日里的闪电。

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

无人赏识的野草莓和百里香，

Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.

花园里的笑声，回荡着曾经的迷醉，

The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,

没有消逝，它们要求着，指向着

The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy

生与死的苦痛。

Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony

你说我在重复

Of death and birth.

我之前曾说过的。我还要再一次谈起。

我还要再次谈起吗？为了到达那里，

                                    You say I am repeating

到达你所在之地，从你所不在之处，

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

你必须走一条没有欢愉之路。

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

为了达到你所不解之物，

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

你必须走一条无知之路。

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

为了获得你所未拥有的，

In order to arrive at what you do not know

你必须走一条被剥夺之路。

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

为了成就你所不是之物，

In order to possess what you do not possess

你必须走一条非我之路。

    You must go by the way of dispossession.

你所不知道的是你所唯一知道的

In order to arrive at what you are not

你所拥有的是你所不拥有的

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

你所在之地是你所不在之地。

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

And what you own is what you do not own

And where you are is where you are not.

四．

受伤的外科医生挥舞着钢刀

IV

去探究那不健康的部位；

在那滴血的双手下，我们感知到

The wounded surgeon plies the steel

他那浸透着医者尖利同情的技艺

That questions the distempered part;

正揭开体温表格里的迷局。

Beneath the bleeding hands we feel

我们唯一的健康是疾病

The sharp compassion of the healer's art

如果我们依从那垂死的护士，

Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

她持久的看护并不受欢迎，

但却让我们忆起加于我们和亚当身上的诅咒，

    Our only health is the disease

而且，一旦它重临，我们的病情必将恶化。

If we obey the dying nurse

整个世界是我们的医院，

Whose constant care is not to please

由那位破产的百万富翁所捐赠，

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

在那里里，只要我们表现良好，我们就会

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

死于那无限的父爱——

它从不会离开，而是随时随地看守着我们。

    The whole earth is our hospital

寒冷从双脚升到膝盖，

Endowed by the ruined millionaire,

热病在神经线上一路欢歌。

Wherein, if we do well, we shall

如果被温暖，我一定会被冰冷的

Die of the absolute paternal care

地狱之火冻僵、颤抖，

That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.

那火焰是玫瑰，烟雾是荆棘。

滴下的血是我们唯一的饮料，

    The chill ascends from feet to knees,

带血的肉是我们唯一的食物：

The fever sings in mental wires.

尽管如此，我们依然认为

If to be warmed, then I must freeze

我们健康活跃，有血有肉，

And quake in frigid purgatorial fires

是的，即便如此，我们仍会说这个星期五不错。

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

    The dripping blood our only drink,

五．

The bloody flesh our only food:

In spite of which we like to think

那么，我在这里，人生的中途，已有二十年——

That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—

二十年大半虚度——处在两次世界大战之间，

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

曾学着使用语言，而每次尝试

都是全新的开始，和全新的失败，

因为人必须让语言朝向更高处，

V

而无须重复那不是必须言说之物，或不去使用

你早已不想再用的形式。所以，每次冒险

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

都是一次新的开始，一次进攻

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

用可怜的装备向口齿不清发起反抗；

Trying to use words, and every attempt

但却在一团模糊的印象和感觉中，

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

在一系列无序的激情中，败退下来。

Because one has only learnt to get the better of words

而那所要征服的——用勇气和妥协——

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

早已被那些无法企及的先辈所揭示，

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

一次，

Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate

两次，甚至多次。——但这其中不存在竞争，

With shabby equipment always deteriorating

唯一的战斗是要重获所失，

In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,

寻得，再失去，一次又一次：而且现在，似乎正处于

Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer

很不走运的情形中。也许既无所得，也无所失。

By strength and submission, has already been discovered

对于我们，唯一的就是尝试。剩下的与我们无关。

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

To emulate—but there is no competition—

家是一个人出发地方。当我们老去

There is only the fight to recover what has been lost

世界变得更为陌生，生死之路

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

变得更加难解。不是那孤立的

That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.

无前也无后的激情瞬间，

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

而是每时每刻都在燃烧的一生，

甚至不仅是一个人的一生，

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older

而是所有那些我们无法破译的古老石碑。

The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated

在星光下的夜晚

Of dead and living. Not the intense moment

在灯光下的夜晚

Isolated, with no before and after,

（在灯下翻看相册的夜晚）

But a lifetime burning in every moment

当此时与此地停止喧嚣，

And not the lifetime of one man only

爱最接近它自己。

But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

老人应是先行者

There is a time for the evening under starlight,

这里还是那里无关紧要

A time for the evening under lamplight

我们必须在静止中前行，

(The evening with the photograph album).

进入另一次激情

Love is most nearly itself

——更进一步的联合，更深入的沟通

When here and now cease to matter.

穿越严寒和虚空荒芜，

Old men ought to be explorers

波涛呼啸，狂风哀嚎，海燕和

Here or there does not matter

海豚的浩淼的大海。在我的结束中，是我的开始。

We must be still and still moving

Into another intensity

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.