第 123 节
作者:
空白协议书 更新:2021-02-21 16:30 字数:9322
Where the pomp of camp and court?
Where the pilgrims with their prayers?
Where the merchants with their wares;
And their gallant brigantines
Sailing safely into port
Chased by corsair Algerines?
Vanished like a fleet of cloud;
Like a passing trumpet…blast;
Are those splendors of the past;
And the commerce and the crowd!
Fathoms deep beneath the seas
Lie the ancient wharves and quays;
Swallowed by the engulfing waves;
Silent streets and vacant halls;
Ruined roofs and towers and walls;
Hidden from all mortal eyes
Deep the sunken city lies:
Even cities have their graves!
This is an enchanted land!
Round the headlands far away
Sweeps the blue Salernian bay
With its sickle of white sand:
Further still and furthermost
On the dim discovered coast
Paestum with its ruins lies;
And its roses all in bloom
Seem to tinge the fatal skies
Of that lonely land of doom。
On his terrace; high in air;
Nothing doth the good monk care
For such worldly themes as these;
From the garden just below
Little puffs of perfume blow;
And a sound is in his ears
Of the murmur of the bees
In the shining chestnut…trees;
Nothing else he heeds or hears。
All the landscape seems to swoon
In the happy afternoon;
Slowly o'er his senses creep
The encroaching waves of sleep;
And he sinks as sank the town;
Unresisting; fathoms down;
Into caverns cool and deep!
Walled about with drifts of snow;
Hearing the fierce north…wind blow;
Seeing all the landscape white;
And the river cased in ice;
Comes this memory of delight;
Comes this vision unto me
Of a long…lost Paradise
In the land beyond the sea。
THE SERMON OF ST。 FRANCIS
Up soared the lark into the air;
A shaft of song; a winged prayer;
As if a soul; released from pain;
Were flying back to heaven again。
St。 Francis heard; it was to him
An emblem of the Seraphim;
The upward motion of the fire;
The light; the heat; the heart's desire。
Around Assisi's convent gate
The birds; God's poor who cannot wait;
From moor and mere and darksome wood
Came flocking for their dole of food。
〃O brother birds;〃 St。 Francis said;
〃Ye come to me and ask for bread;
But not with bread alone to…day
Shall ye be fed and sent away。
〃Ye shall be fed; ye happy birds;
With manna of celestial words;
Not mine; though mine they seem to be;
Not mine; though they be spoken through me。
〃O; doubly are ye bound to praise
The great Creator in your lays;
He giveth you your plumes of down;
Your crimson hoods; your cloaks of brown。
〃He giveth you your wings to fly
And breathe a purer air on high;
And careth for you everywhere;
Who for yourselves so little care!〃
With flutter of swift wings and songs
Together rose the feathered throngs;
And singing scattered far apart;
Deep peace was in St。 Francis' heart。
He knew not if the brotherhood
His homily had understood;
He only knew that to one ear
The meaning of his words was clear。
BELISARIUS
I am poor and old and blind;
The sun burns me; and the wind
Blows through the city gate
And covers me with dust
From the wheels of the august
Justinian the Great。
It was for him I chased
The Persians o'er wild and waste;
As General of the East;
Night after night I lay
In their camps of yesterday;
Their forage was my feast。
For him; with sails of red;
And torches at mast…head;
Piloting the great fleet;
I swept the Afric coasts
And scattered the Vandal hosts;
Like dust in a windy street。
For him I won again
The Ausonian realm and reign;
Rome and Parthenope;
And all the land was mine
From the summits of Apennine
To the shores of either sea。
For him; in my feeble age;
I dared the battle's rage;
To save Byzantium's state;
When the tents of Zabergan;
Like snow…drifts overran
The road to the Golden Gate。
And for this; for this; behold!
Infirm and blind and old;
With gray; uncovered head;
Beneath the very arch
Of my triumphal march;
I stand and beg my bread!
Methinks I still can hear;
Sounding distinct and near;
The Vandal monarch's cry;
As; captive and disgraced;
With majestic step he paced;
〃All; all is Vanity!〃
Ah! vainest of all things
Is the gratitude of kings;
The plaudits of the crowd
Are but the clatter of feet
At midnight in the street;
Hollow and restless and loud。
But the bitterest disgrace
Is to see forever the face
Of the Monk of Ephesus!
The unconquerable will
This; too; can bear;I still
Am Belisarius!
SONGO RIVER
Nowhere such a devious stream;
Save in fancy or in dream;
Winding slow through bush and brake
Links together lake and lake。
Walled with woods or sandy shelf;
Ever doubling on itself
Flows the stream; so still and slow
That it hardly seems to flow。
Never errant knight of old;
Lost in woodland or on wold;
Such a winding path pursued
Through the sylvan solitude。
Never school…boy in his quest
After hazel…nut or nest;
Through the forest in and out
Wandered loitering thus about。
In the mirror of its tide
Tangled thickets on each side
Hang inverted; and between
Floating cloud or sky serene。
Swift or swallow on the wing
Seems the only living thing;
Or the loon; that laughs and flies
Down to those reflected skies。
Silent stream! thy Indian name
Unfamiliar is to fame;
For thou hidest here alone;
Well content to be unknown。
But thy tranquil waters teach
Wisdom deep as human speech;
Moving without haste or noise
In unbroken equipoise。
Though thou turnest no busy mill;
And art ever calm and still;
Even thy silence seems to say
To the traveller on his way:
〃Traveller; hurrying from the heat
Of the city; stay thy feet!
Rest awhile; nor longer waste
Life with inconsiderate haste!
〃Be not like a stream that brawls
Loud with shallow waterfalls;
But in quiet self…control
Link together soul and soul〃
************
KERAMOS
Turn; turn; my wheel? Turn round and round
Without a pause; without a sound:
So spins the flying world away!
This clay; well mixed with marl and sand;
Follows the motion of my hand;
Far some must follow; and some command;
Though all are made of clay!
Thus sang the Potter at his task
Beneath the blossoming hawthorn…tree;
While o'er his features; like a mask;
The quilted sunshine and leaf…shade
Moved; as the boughs above him swayed;
And clothed him; till he seemed to be
A figure woven in tapestry;
So sumptuously was he arrayed
In that magnificent attire
Of sable tissue flaked with fire。
Like a magician he appeared;
A conjurer without book or beard;
And while he plied his magic art
For it was magical to me
I stood in silence and apart;
And wondered more and more to see
That shapeless; lifeless mass of clay
Rise up to meet the master's hand;
And now contract and now expand;
And even his slightest touch obey;
While ever in a thoughtful mood
He sang his ditty; and at times
Whistled a tune between the rhymes;
As a melodious interlude。
Turn; turn; my wheel! All things must change
To something new; to something strange;
Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax; the moon will wane;
The mist and cloud will turn to rain;
The rain to mist and cloud again;
To…morrow be to…day。
Thus still the Potter sang; and still;
By some unconscious act of will;
The melody and even the words
Were intermingled with my thought
As bits of colored thread are caught
And woven into nests of birds。
And thus to regions far remote;
Beyond the ocean's vast expanse;
This wizard in the motley coat
Transported me on wings of song;
And by the northern shores of France
Bore me with restless speed along。
What land is this that seems to be
A mingling of the land and sea?
This land of sluices; dikes; and dunes?
This water…net; that tessellates
The landscape? this unending maze
Of gardens; through whose latticed gates
The imprisoned pinks and tulips gaze;
Where in long summer afternoons
The sunshine; softened by the haze;
Comes streaming down as through a screen;
Where over fields and pastures green
The painted ships float high in air;
And over all and everywhere
The sails of windmills sink and soar
Like wings of sea…gulls on the shore?
What land is this? Yon pretty town
Is Delft; with all its wares displayed;
The pride; the market…place; the crown
And centre of the Potter's trade。
See! every house and room is bright
With glimmers of reflected light
From plates that on the dresser shine;
Flagons to foam with Flemish beer;
Or sparkle with the Rhenish wine;
And pilgrim flasks with fleurs…de…lis;
And ships upo