柯勒律治_午夜霜_Frost At Midnight

Frost at Midnight

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

The Frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry
Came loud—and hark, again! loud as before.
The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,
Have left me to that solitude, which suits
Abstruser musings: save that at my side
My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.
'Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs
And vexes meditation with its strange
And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,
This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood,
With all the numberless goings-on of life,
Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame
Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not;
Only that film, which fluttered on the grate,


Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing.
Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature
Gives it dim sympathies with me who live,
Making it a companionable form,
Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit
By its own moods interprets, every where
Echo or mirror seeking of itself,
And makes a toy of Thought.


                      But O! how oft,
How oft, at school, with most believing mind,
Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars,
To watch that fluttering stranger ! and as oft
With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt
Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower,
Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang
From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day,
So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me
With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear
Most like articulate sounds of things to come!
So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt,
Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams!
And so I brooded all the following morn,
Awed by the stern preceptor's face, mine eye
Fixed with mock study on my swimming book:
Save if the door half opened, and I snatched
A hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up,
For still I hoped to see the stranger's face,
Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved,
My play-mate when we both were clothed alike!


         Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side,
Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm,
Fill up the intersperséd vacancies
And momentary pauses of the thought!
My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart
With tender gladness, thus to look at thee,
And think that thou shalt learn far other lore,
And in far other scenes! For I was reared
In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim,
And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.
But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze
By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags
Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,
Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores
And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear
The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible
Of that eternal language, which thy God
Utters, who from eternity doth teach
Himself in all, and all things in himself.
Great universal Teacher! he shall mould
Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask.


         Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.

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午夜霜
——柯勒律治

寒霜履行着它的秘密使命，
不借助半丝风力。小枭的叫声很尖厉
——听，又来了！跟上次一样。
我住的村舍里，大家全都安静了，
把我留给了寂寞，寂寞，适宜于
更深的沉思：只是，在我的身旁，
我的婴儿在襁褓里安然酣睡着。
真安静！安静到这样，竟然能干扰、
能打断我的冥想，由于那奇怪的、
极度的岑寂。大海，山岳，树木，
人烟稠密的村庄！海岳，森林，
人世间无穷无尽的纷纭扰攘，
梦一样悄无声息！淡蓝的轻焰
倚着将尽的炉火，一动也不动；
只有那飘在炉栅上面的淡烟，
仍然袅动着，是惟一不知安静的。
无声的宇宙间，只有它在运动，而我
依然清醒，它恰好与我相伴，
也许在暗地里与我交流感情，
闲游的精灵按照自己的心态
解释淡烟的飘动和奇形怪状，
到处寻觅自己的回声和映像，
凭遐想而逸兴遄飞。

可是啊！多少次
我在学校里，总是深信不疑，
有预感，我目不转睛地望着门栅，
等待那翩然而至的“来客”！多少次，
尽管睁着眼，我已经入梦，梦见
可爱的故乡，古老教堂的塔楼，
教堂的钟声，穷人唯一的音乐，
在熙熙攘攘的赶集目，从早敲到晚，
悠扬动听，萦绕我的心头，打动我，
一种销魂的喜悦，落上我耳膜，
绝似清晰的嗓音预告着未来！
我这样凝视着，直到梦的慰藉
哄我入睡，而睡眠又延长了梦境！
第二天上午我依然深思恍惚，
又怕见严峻的导师的脸色，我眼睛
做学习的样子，盯住晃动的课本：
只要教室门打开，我抓住机会
匆忙一眼，我的心猛然跳起来，
因为我渴望看到“来客”的面貌，
老乡，大妈，或更加亲爱的姐姐----
我的玩伴儿，我俩穿一样的衣服！

亲爱的宝宝，睡在我身旁襁褓里，
呼吸声安恬，在这片深沉的宁静中
听得见，填补了我冥思遐想中
四散的空隙和片刻停顿的间歇！
宝宝多漂亮！他使我心灵震颤，
充盈着温柔的喜悦，这样看着你，
想你将学到多么不同的知识，
在多么不同的场合！而我是成长在
大城市，关进了幽暗的修道院，除了
天空和星星，见不到慈颜和笑容。
而你啊，宝宝！你将如一朵轻风
漫游过湖泊和沙岸，飘在古老的
崇山峻岭下，托起汹涌的云狼，
任滔滔云海变形为湖泊和沙岸，
或悬崖峭壁，会听见明晰的声音，
这些都源自上帝永恒的语言，
上帝在永恒之上，教化万物，
他在万物中，万物在他的心中。
宇宙的导师！他将铸你的灵魂，
给你以恩赐，也让你提出请求。

于是所有的季节对你都美好，
无论是夏季，大地上郁郁葱葱，
或者换一个季节，红胸鸟唱歌，
在苔痕斑斑的苹果树秃枝上栖息，
周围是积雪，附近的屋檐在阳光下
解冻，冒水汽；无论是疾风暂歌，
这时才听见檐水一声声滴落，
或者严霜的秘密使命把檐水
挂起来，成为一条条无言的冰柱，
向着宁静的月亮宁静地闪光。

（屠岸 译）