关于经受苦难他们从来都没错过，

About suffering they were never wrong, 

那些古老的大师：他们真的理解

The Old Masters: how well, they understood 

那是人类的立场：它是怎样发生的

Its human position; how it takes place 

当另一些人正在吃饭或者打开一扇窗户或者无所事事地走着；

While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; 

又是怎样，当老者虔诚地，热切地等待

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting 

奇迹的诞生，这儿总是会有

For the miraculous birth, there always must be 

并不特别盼望奇迹发生的孩子们，在树林边

Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating 

的池面上滑冰：

On a pond at the edge of the wood: 

他们从来没有忘记

They never forgot 

即使是最可怕的殉难也要在一个角落

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course 

按常规进行，一个肮脏的地方

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot 

那里狗过着狗样的日子而施暴者的马

Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse 

在一棵树上蹭着它无辜的臀部。

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. 

在布鲁盖尔的伊卡洛斯里，比如说：所有的东西怎样对着灾难

In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away 

相当悠闲地掉转头去；耕田者可能

Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 

听到了那声泼溅，一声孤绝的喊叫，

Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, 

但对他来说那不是什么了不起的失败；太阳照耀

But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone 

好像它就得在那些白色的腿上消失进绿色的

As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green 

水中，那些昂贵精美的船只也一定看到了

Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen 

令人惊奇的事件，一个男孩从天上落下，

Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, 

它们有要去的地方因而平静地继续行驶。

Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.