一

I

在我的开始中是我的结束。隆替演变

In my beginning is my end. In succession

屋宇建起又倒坍、倾圮又重新扩建，

Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,

迁移，毁坏，修复，或在原址

Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place

出现一片空旷的田野，或一座工厂，或一条间道。

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

旧石筑新楼，古木升新火，

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

旧火变灰烬，灰烬化黄土，

Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth

而黄土如今已化为肉，毛，粪，

Which is already flesh, fur and faeces,

人和兽的骨，麦秆和绿叶。

Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.

屋宇有生也有死：有建造的时候

Houses live and die: there is a time for building

也有供生活和蕃衍生息的时候，

And a time for living and for generation

有给大风吹落松弛的窗玻璃

And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane

摇动田鼠在来回奔驰的护壁板

And to shake the wainscot where the field-mouse trots

吹起绣着沉默箴言的破挂毡的时候。

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

在我的开始中是我的结束。此刻阳光

    In my beginning is my end. Now the light falls

掠过空旷的田野而隐去，留下深巷

Across the open field, leaving the deep lane

任繁密的树叶把它掩住，你在暮色苍茫中

Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon,

倚着岸堤，一辆货车从身边驶过，

Where you lean against a bank while a van passes,

深巷固执地向村里伸展，在炙人的暑热中

And the deep lane insists on the direction

村子已摧入梦乡。在暖烘烘的氤氲里那燠热的光

Into the village, in the electric heat

被灰色的石头吸收了，而不是折射。

Hypnotised. In a warm haze the sultry light

大丽花丛沉睡在空阒的寂静中。

Is absorbed, not refracted, by grey stone.

等待着早来的枭鸟。

The dahlias sleep in the empty silence.

Wait for the early owl.

　　　　　　　　在空旷的田野

假如你不走得太近，假如你不走得太近，

                                    In that open field

在一个夏天的夜半，就就能听到

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

那轻柔的笛子和小鼓的音乐，

On a summer midnight, you can hear the music

看见他们围着篝火跳舞，

Of the weak pipe and the little drum

男人和女人结对而舞，着是在举行婚礼——

And see them dancing around the bonfire

一种庄严而方便的圣礼。

The association of man and woman

一双双一对对，必然的结合，

In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie—

他们互相手拉手或臂膀挽着臂膀

A dignified and commodiois sacrament.

表示情投意合。一圈又一圈地围着篝火

Two and two, necessarye coniunction,

或加入舞伴们的圆圈，或穿过熊熊火焰

Holding eche other by the hand or the arm

婆娑起舞，质朴而严肃，或发出村野的笑声

Whiche betokeneth concorde. Round and round the fire

提起穿着笨拙的鞋子的沉重的脚，

Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles,

泥脚，沾着沃土的脚、

Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter

沉浸在村野的欢乐——那久远以来

Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes,

在地里滋育谷物的人们的欢乐之中。

Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth

他们按着生命的不同季节安排生活一样。

Mirth of those long since under earth

有四季更替和星辰出没的时间

Nourishing the corn. Keeping time,

有挤奶的时间和收获的时间

Keeping the rhythm in their dancing

有男人和女人匹配成婚的时间

As in their living in the living seasons

也有野兽交配的时间。两脚提起和放下。

The time of the seasons and the constellations

吃和喝。拉撒和死亡。

The time of milking and the time of harvest

The time of the coupling of man and woman

东方破晓，另一个白天

And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling.

又为炎热和寂静作准备。晨风在海上

Eating and drinking. Dung and death.

吹起了波纹，掠海而去。我在这里

或在那里，或在别处。在我的开始中。

    Dawn points, and another day

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

Wrinkles and slides. I am here

二

Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning.

迟留的十一月

需要春天的困扰吗？

II

需要夏暑的创造物

和那脚下缠绕的雪花吗，

What is the late November doing

需要那一心想扶摇直上

With the disturbance of the spring

却由红变灰终于跌落下来的蜀葵，

And creatures of the summer heat,

需要那盖满了初雪的凋零的玫瑰吗？

And snowdrops writhing under feet

流驰的星星敲响了雷声隆隆

And hollyhocks that aim too high

好似意气洋洋的战车

Red into grey and tumble down

部署在群星会集的战斗中。

Late roses filled with early snow?

天蝎星攻打太阳

Thunder rolled by the rolling stars

直打得太阳和月亮沉落

Simulates triumphal cars

彗星暗暗哭泣而流星飞驰

Deployed in constellated wars

追逐在一阵旋风中旋转的苍穹和大地

Scorpion fights against the Sun

在冰雪君临大地之前旋风就将世界

Until the Sun and Moon go down

卷向燃烧着的毁灭之火。

Comets weep and Leonids fly

Hunt the heavens and the plains

这不失为一种表达方式——但不太令人满意：

Whirled in a vortex that shall bring

用一种陈旧的诗歌形式进行一次转弯抹角的研究，

The world to that destructive fire

而把人们始终留在一场跟语言和涵义

Which burns before the ice-cap reigns.

作无法容忍的扭打中。诗歌无关宗旨。

这并不是（重新开始）人们过去所期待的。

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

人们多年期待的东西，它的价值将是什么，

A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,

多年企望的平静，秋天般的平静

Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle

和老年的睿智，这一切又将有什么价值？

With words and meanings. The poetry does not matter.

音容消寂的前辈他们遗赠给我们的只是欺骗的诀窍，

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

他们是骗了我们还是骗了他们自己？

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

平静不过是一种有意的愚騃,

Long hoped for calm, the autumnal serenity

睿智不过是懂得一些已经失效的秘诀，

And the wisdom of age? Had they deceived us

对他们在黑暗中窥视黑暗

Or deceived themselves, the quiet-voiced elders,

或置黑暗于不顾都没有什么用处。

Bequeathing us merely a receipt for deceit?

在我们看来，来自经验的知识

The serenity only a deliberate hebetude,

似乎只有一种有限的价值。

The wisdom only the knowledge of dead secrets

知识把一个模式强加于人，然后欺骗人，

Useless in the darkness into which they peered

因为模式在每一瞬间都是新的

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

而每一瞬间又都是对我们以往的一切

At best, only a limited value

作出一次新的骇人的评价。我们只是因为欺骗

In the knowledge derived from experience.

已不再能伤害我们，才没有受骗而已。

The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,

在人生的中途，不禁在旅程的中途

For the pattern is new in every moment

而且是全部历程，我们都在黑暗的森林中，荆棘中，

And every moment is a new and shocking

在沼泽的边缘，那里没有安全的落脚点

Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived

而且受到各种魔怪和虚幻的光明的威胁

Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.

引诱你去冒险。别让我听取

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

老年人的睿智，不如听他们的愚行，

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

他们对恐惧和狂乱的恐惧，他们对财产的恐惧，

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

对属于另一个人，属于别人或属于上帝的恐惧。

And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,

我们唯一能希冀获得的睿智

Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear

是谦卑的睿智：谦卑是永无止境的。

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

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

屋宇房舍都已沉入大海。

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

The only wisdom we can hope to acquire

跳舞的人们都已长眠山下。

Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.

    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，

上校们，银行家们，知名的文学家们，

III

慷慨大度的艺术赞助人、政治家和统治者，

显要的文官们，形形色色的委员主席们，

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

工业巨子和卑微的承包商们都走进了黑暗，

The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,

太阳和月亮也暗淡无光了，哥达年鉴

The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,

证券市场报和董事姓名录都黯然失色了，

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

感觉冷却，行动的动机也已经消失。

Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,

于是我们大家和他们同行，走进肃穆的葬礼，

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

不是谁的葬礼，因为没有谁要埋葬。

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

我对我的灵魂说，别作声，让黑暗降临在你的身上

And the Stock Exchange Gazette, the Directory of Directors,

这准是上帝的黑暗。正如在剧场里

And cold the sense and lost the motive of action.

为了变换场景，灯光熄灭了，

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

舞台两厢一阵沉重的辘辘声，在黑暗里

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

随着一番黑暗的动作，我们知道

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

群山，树林，远处的活动画景

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

还有那显目而堂皇的正面装设都在移走——

The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed

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

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

旅客们交谈之声纷起，又逐渐消寂于静默，

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

而你在每张脸孔后面看到内心的空虚正在加深

And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—

只留下没有什么可想的恐惧在心头升起；

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

或者像上了麻醉以后，头脑清醒却无所感觉——

And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence

我对我的灵魂说，别作声，耐心等待但不要寄予希望，

And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen

因为希望会变成对虚妄的希望；

Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;

耐心等待但不要怀有爱恋，

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

因为爱恋会变成对虚妄的爱恋；纵然犹有信心，

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

但是信心、爱和希望都在等待之中。

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

耐心等待但不要思索，因为你还没有准备好思索：

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

这样黑暗必将变得光明，静止也将变成舞蹈。

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

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

潺潺的溪水在低语，冬天有雷电闪烁。

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

野百合花和野草莓没有被人赏识，

Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.

花园里那曾回想过当年狂喜的笑声

The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,

如今尤未消寂，但是在要求并暗示

The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy

死亡与降生的痛苦。

Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony

　　　　　　　　你说我是在重复

Of death and birth.

我以前说过的话。我还要再说一遍。

要我再说一遍吗？为了要到达那儿，

                                    You say I am repeating

到达现在你所在的地方，离开现在你不在的地方，

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

　你必须经历一条其中并无引人入胜之处的道路。

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

为了最终理解你所不理解的，

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

　你必须经历一条愚昧无知的道路。

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

为了占有你从未占有的东西，

In order to arrive at what you do not know

　你必须经历被剥夺的道路。

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

为了达到你现在所不在的名位，

In order to possess what you do not possess

　你必须经历那条你不在其中的道路。

    You must go by the way of dispossession.

你所不了解的正是你所唯一了解的，

In order to arrive at what you are not

而你所拥有的正是你所并不拥有的，

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

而你所在的地方也正是你所不在的地方。

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

受伤的医生挥动着钢刀

IV

细心探究发病的部位；

在流血的双手下我们感觉到

The wounded surgeon plies the steel

医生满怀强烈同情的技艺

That questions the distempered part;

在揭开体温图表上的谜。

Beneath the bleeding hands we feel

我们仅有的健康是疾病

The sharp compassion of the healer's art

如果我们听从那位垂危的护士——

Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

她坚定不移的关注不是使我们欢欣

而是提醒我们和亚当蒙受的灾祸，

    Our only health is the disease

一旦灾祸重临，我们的病必将变为沉疴。

If we obey the dying nurse

Whose constant care is not to please

整个世界是我们的医院

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

由那个不幸的百万富翁资助，

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

在那里，如果我们的病况好转，

我们就将死于专制的父爱的关注，

    The whole earth is our hospital

它须臾不离引导着我们，不论我们身在何处。

Endowed by the ruined millionaire,

冷意从两脚间升向膝盖，

Wherein, if we do well, we shall

热度在精神的弦线中歌词。

Die of the absolute paternal care

如果使我暖和起来，那么，我准会在

That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.

寒冷的地狱之火中站立而冻僵，

炼火的烈焰是玫瑰，而浓烟是多刺的荆棘。

    The chill ascends from feet to knees,

The fever sings in mental wires.

滴出的血是我们唯一的饮料，

If to be warmed, then I must freeze

血腥的肉是我们唯一的食粮，

And quake in frigid purgatorial fires

即使这样，我们仍然乐于称道

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

我们是有血有肉的人，结实而又健康——

同样，尽管如此，我们称道这个星期五好。

    The dripping blood our only drink,

The bloody flesh our only food:

In spite of which we like to think

五

That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—

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——

试着学会使用语言，而每一次尝试

V

都是一次完全新的开始，也是一次性质不同的失败，

因为你不过是为了叙述那已经不必再叙述

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

或者你已经不想再那样叙述的事情

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

而学习怎样驾御语言的。所以每次冒险从事

Trying to use words, and every attempt

都是一次新的开始，一次用破敝的装备

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

向无法言述的事物发动的袭击，最后总是溃不成军

Because one has only learnt to get the better of words

只留下不准确的感觉乱作一团，

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

一群没有纪律的激情的乌合之众。

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

而那需要你用气力和谦逊去征服的一切，

Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate

早已被那些你无法企及的人们

With shabby equipment always deteriorating

一次或两次，或好多次所发现——但是没有竞争——

In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,

只有去找回那已经失去的东西，

Undisciplined squads of emotion. And what there is to conquer

但一旦找到又重新失去，又去寻找，

By strength and submission, has already been discovered

这样循环反复的斗争。而现在似乎处于

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

不利的条件之下。但也许既无所得也无所失。

To emulate—but there is no competition—

对于我们，唯有尝试自己，此外则非我们所能为力。

There is only the fight to recover what has been lost

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

家是我们出发的地方。随着我们年岁渐老

That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.

世界变为陌路人，死与生的模式更为复杂。

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

那已与我们隔绝——没有以前也没有以后的，

不是那感情强烈的瞬间，而是每瞬间都在燃烧的一生，

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older

不仅是一个人的一生，而且也是

The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated

那些如今无法辨认的古老石碑的一生。

Of dead and living. Not the intense moment

有在星光下的黄昏时刻，

Isolated, with no before and after,

有在灯光下的黄昏时刻

But a lifetime burning in every moment

（在灯下翻阅相片薄的黄昏）。

And not the lifetime of one man only

为此时此地无关紧要之际，

But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

爱最近乎它自己。

There is a time for the evening under starlight,

老年人应该是探索者，

A time for the evening under lamplight

此地或彼地无关大局，

(The evening with the photograph album).

我们必须静静地继续前进，

Love is most nearly itself

越过黑暗的寒冷和空阒无人的废墟，

When here and now cease to matter.

越过波涛的呼啸，大封的怒号，

Old men ought to be explorers

海鸟和海豚的浩淼大海，进入另一个感情的强度，

Here or there does not matter

为了获得更进一步的一致，更深入的交流。

We must be still and still moving

在我的结束中是我的开始。

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.