THE SOLDIER’S DREAM
Our bugles sing truce, for the night-cloud had lower’d,
And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky;
And thousands had sunk on the ground overpower’d,
The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die.
When reposing that night on my pallet of straw
By the wolf-scaring faggot that guarded the slain,
At the dead of the night a sweet vision I saw;
And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again.
Methought from the battle-field’s dreadful array
Far, far I had roam’d on a desolate track:
T was autumn, -- and sunshine arose on the way
To the home of my fathers, that welcomed me back.
I flew to the pleasant fields traversed so oft
In life’s morning march, when my bosom was young;
I heard my own mountain-goats bleating aloft,
And knew the sweet strain that the corn reapers sung.
Then pledged we the wine-cup, and fondly I swore
From my home and my weeping friends never to part;
My little ones kiss’d me a thousand times o’er,
And my wife sobb’d aloud in her fullness of heart.
‘Stay -- stay with us! -- rest! -- thou art weary and worn!’–
And fain was their war-broken soldier to stay; --
But sorrow return’d with the dawning of morn,
And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.
《士兵的梦》
[英]托马斯·坎贝尔 黄杲炘 译
收兵号吹响时夜云已很低,
哨兵般的星星在天空守望;
千百人因体力不支倒在地——
困了的睡去,受伤的死亡。
那晚上我躺在自己草垫上,
在为阵亡者御狼的篝火边;
深夜里我看见甜美的景象——
天亮前我梦中出现了三遍。
我似乎沿荒凉小道在走去,
远离那列阵的血淋淋战场:
我走向欢迎我回去的故里——
一路上洒满了秋日的阳光。
我飞跑到我常穿越的沃野,
那时我年轻, 生命像早行军——
我家的山羊在高处叫咩咩,
割麦人的歌声稔熟又动听。
当我们举杯, 我深情地起誓:
永不离哭泣的亲人和乡里;
我的小儿女吻了我千百次,
而满心激动的妻子在抽泣。
“待下吧, 你累坏了, 也该歇歇!”——
被战争压垮的士兵很乐意,
不过随曙色回来的是悲切,
梦中的话音在耳中已沉寂。
托马斯·坎贝尔(1777~1844),英国诗人。1799年发表以押韵两行诗手法写的长篇诗作《希望的快乐》,因此成名。他的另一部长诗《怀俄明州的格特鲁德》(1809年)是以宾夕法尼亚的荒原为创作背景的。坎贝尔在伦敦度过了他的大部分人生,1820~1830年间他在伦敦主编了《新月刊杂志》。
黄杲炘,上海译文出版社编审,中国资深翻译家,从事英语诗歌翻译。主要翻译作品有:《柔巴依集》、《华兹华斯抒情诗选》、《丁尼生诗选》、《英国抒情诗选》、《美国抒情诗选》、《英国抒情诗100首》、《美国抒情诗100首》、《坎特伯雷故事》、《秀发遭劫记》、《英语爱情诗100首》、《英语十四行诗选》、《英语趣诗选》等,著有:《从柔巴依到坎特伯雷—英语汉译研究》、《英诗汉译学》,其中,《坎特伯雷故事》获第四届优秀外国文学图书一等奖,《英诗汉译学》获中国大学出版社图书奖首届优秀学术图书一等奖。