第 5 节
作者:片片      更新:2023-08-28 11:48      字数:5797
  Now from its soul arose a piteous moan;
  The soul that always loved the just and fair。
  Granite and marble loud their woe confessed;
  The silver monstrances that Popes had blessed;
  The chalices and lamps and crosiers rare
  Were seared and twisted by a flaming breath;
  The horror everywhere did range and swell;
  The guardian Saints into this furnace fell;
  Their bitter tears and screams were stilled in death。
  Around the flames armed hosts are skirmishing;
  The burning sun reflects the lurid scene;
  The German army; fighting for its life;
  Rallies its torn and terrified left wing;
  And; as they near this place
  The imperial eagles see
  Before them in their flight;
  Here; in the solemn night;
  The old cathedral; to the years to be
  Showing; with wounded arms; their own disgrace。
  Kings
  (For the Rev。 James B。 Dollard)
  The Kings of the earth are men of might;
  And cities are burned for their delight;
  And the skies rain death in the silent night;
  And the hills belch death all day!
  But the King of Heaven; Who made them all;
  Is fair and gentle; and very small;
  He lies in the straw; by the oxen's stall
  Let them think of Him to…day!
  The White Ships and the Red
  (For Alden March)
  With drooping sail and pennant
  That never a wind may reach;
  They float in sunless waters
  Beside a sunless beach。
  Their mighty masts and funnels
  Are white as driven snow;
  And with a pallid radiance
  Their ghostly bulwarks glow。
  Here is a Spanish galleon
  That once with gold was gay;
  Here is a Roman trireme
  Whose hues outshone the day。
  But Tyrian dyes have faded;
  And prows that once were bright
  With rainbow stains wear only
  Death's livid; dreadful white。
  White as the ice that clove her
  That unforgotten day;
  Among her pallid sisters
  The grim Titanic lay。
  And through the leagues above her
  She looked aghast; and said:
  〃What is this living ship that comes
  Where every ship is dead?〃
  The ghostly vessels trembled
  From ruined stern to prow;
  What was this thing of terror
  That broke their vigil now?
  Down through the startled ocean
  A mighty vessel came;
  Not white; as all dead ships must be;
  But red; like living flame!
  The pale green waves about her
  Were swiftly; strangely dyed;
  By the great scarlet stream that flowed
  From out her wounded side。
  And all her decks were scarlet
  And all her shattered crew。
  She sank among the white ghost ships
  And stained them through and through。
  The grim Titanic greeted her
  〃And who art thou?〃 she said;
  〃Why dost thou join our ghostly fleet
  Arrayed in living red?
  We are the ships of sorrow
  Who spend the weary night;
  Until the dawn of Judgment Day;
  Obscure and still and white。〃
  〃Nay;〃 said the scarlet visitor;
  〃Though I sink through the sea;
  A ruined thing that was a ship;
  I sink not as did ye。
  For ye met with your destiny
  By storm or rock or fight;
  So through the lagging centuries
  Ye wear your robes of white。
  〃But never crashing iceberg
  Nor honest shot of foe;
  Nor hidden reef has sent me
  The way that I must go。
  My wound that stains the waters;
  My blood that is like flame;
  Bear witness to a loathly deed;
  A deed without a name。
  〃I went not forth to battle;
  I carried friendly men;
  The children played about my decks;
  The women sang  and then
  And then  the sun blushed scarlet
  And Heaven hid its face;
  The world that God created
  Became a shameful place!
  〃My wrong cries out for vengeance;
  The blow that sent me here
  Was aimed in Hell。  My dying scream
  Has reached Jehovah's ear。
  Not all the seven oceans
  Shall wash away that stain;
  Upon a brow that wears a crown
  I am the brand of Cain。〃
  When God's great voice assembles
  The fleet on Judgment Day;
  The ghosts of ruined ships will rise
  In sea and strait and bay。
  Though they have lain for ages
  Beneath the changeless flood;
  They shall be white as silver;
  But one  shall be like blood。
  'End of Main Street and Other Poems。'
  The following biographical information is from the Occasional Notes
  to ‘A Treasury of War Poetry'; 1919; edited by George Herbert Clarke。
  Kilmer; Joyce。  He was born in New Brunswick; N。J。; December 6; 1886。
  He had first joined the Officers' Reserve Corps; but soon resigned。
  Within seventeen days after the entrance of the United States into the war
  he left his journalistic career to enlist as a Private
  in the Seventh Regiment; National Guard; New York。
  Shortly before the Seventh left New York for Spartanburg; S。C。;
  he was transferred at his own request to the 165th U。S。 Infantry;
  formerly the 69th National Guard Regiment of New York。
  He accompanied the regiment as a Private to Camp Mills; Long Island。
  He was transferred from Company H to Headquarters Company;
  and became Senior Regimental Statistician。  The regiment sailed for France
  in October; 1917; and there he was placed in the Adjutant's Office
  and made Sergeant。  Thereafter he was attached to the Regimental
  Intelligence Staff as an observer; and showed great fidelity and courage
  in the tasks to which he was assigned。  He was killed in action
  on July 30; 1918; while trying to locate hostile machine…guns
  in the Wood of the Burned Bridge; on the Ourcq。  His war writings
  may be found in ‘Main Street; and other Poems'; and ‘Joyce Kilmer;
  Poems; Essays and Letters'。
  End