试译 Darkness

byronrilke

黑暗



我作了一个梦，却不仅仅是梦境。
光明的太阳熄灭了，星辰们也在
无尽的天空中黯淡，
昏暗、无路而又冰冻的大地
盲目地摇摆在昏黑无月的空中；
清晨来了又走——从未带来白昼，
人们在对悲伤的恐惧中
忘记了激情；他们的心全都
僵冷成一个自私的祈求，祈求光明：
他们靠营火活着——那些宝座，
那些帝王的宫殿——那些茅舍，
万物的居所，皆化为烟火；
城市灰飞烟灭，
人们聚集在着火的家园四周
再一次看着彼此的面容；
那些居所看得见火山的人高兴着，
他们山间的火炬：
一个恐怖的希望笼罩着世界；
森林起火了——一小时又一小时
它们倒下、熄灭——那些爆裂的树干
因撞击而熄灭——只留下一片漆黑。
绝望的火光映照着人们的面庞，
诡异的神色阵阵浮现；
有些人躺下，掩面哭泣；
一些人支颐微笑；
另一些人来去匆匆，用燃料
喂养他们的火葬堆，并且异常不安地
仰望阴郁的天空，
对旧世界的厌倦；他们又一次
沮丧地诅咒那些灰烬，
咬牙切齿，嚎啕大哭；受惊的野鸟
尖叫着，在地上拍打它们
无用的翅膀；野兽
变得驯服和惊悚；毒蛇蠕动着
在人群中扭绞，咝咝作响，
但没有毒牙——它们被杀死当作食物。
战争，虽一时消歇，
重又被鲜血饕足，
人们各自阴沉地分开，
在晦暗中塞饱肚肠：再没有爱了；
世上只剩一个念头——那就是死，
迅速而不光彩的死；饥饿
侵蚀了万物的腑脏——人们
都死了，他们的尸骨没有坟墓埋葬；
弱者为弱者所吞噬，
甚至连狗也攻击它们的主人，只除了一只，
它仍然忠于一具尸体，反抗着
禽兽与饿鬼的靠近，
饥饿攫住了它们，倒下的死人
引诱着它们枯瘦的咽喉；它自己也找不到食物
但只是长久哀怨地呻吟，
和急促凄厉地鸣吠，它舔着那只手
却没有得到爱抚的答复——他死了。
人们都逐渐饿毙了，只有两个人
在一座大城市中幸存，
他们是仇敌：相遇在
一个遗火将尽的祭坛边——那里
神圣的物品堆积如山
为了一个不神圣的仪式；他们颤抖着
用冰冷枯槁的手挖掘着
微弱的灰烬，他们微弱的呼吸
吹出一点生命，发出一点火焰
它是一个嘲笑；然后火焰更亮
他们抬起眼睛，看见
彼此的面容——看着，尖叫着，然后死去——
他们甚至死于互相厌恶，
不知是谁用饥饿在人们额前
写下撒旦的印记。世界空无所有，
繁华与权力化为土丘，
没有季节，没有草木，没有人，没有生命——
凝成死亡——一堆混沌的硬土。
河流、湖泊和海洋都寂灭无声，
在它们死寂的深处再没有躁动；
没有水手的船在海上朽烂，
它们的桅杆碎裂：纷纷坠落
它们长眠在没有波涛的渊薮——
波浪已死灭，潮水也退入坟墓，
月亮，这潮水的主人，早已断了气；
风也枯萎在停滞的空中，
云也消散了；黑暗毋需
它的存在——她就是宇宙。


附原文

Darkness

by Lord Byron

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings--the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,
And men were gather'd round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire--but hour by hour
They fell and faded--and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash--and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil'd;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd
And twin'd themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless--they were slain for food.
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought--and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails--men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer'd not with a caress--he died.
The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,
And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects--saw, and shriek'd, and died--
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless--
A lump of death--a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd
They slept on the abyss without a surge--
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them--She was the Universe.