The Song of the Happy Shepherd

The woods of Arcady are dead,
And over is their antique joy;
Of old the world on dreaming fed;
Grey Truth is now her painted toy;
Yet still she turns her restless head:
But O, sick children of the world,
Of all the many changing things
In dreary dancing past us whirled,
To the cracked tune that Chronos sings,
Words alone are certain good.
Where are now the warring kings,
Word be-mockers?—By the Rood
Where are now the warring kings?
An idle word is now their glory,
By the stammering schoolboy said,
Reading some entangled story:
The kings of the old time are dead;
The wandering earth herself may be
Only a sudden flaming word,
In clanging space a moment heard,
Troubling the endless reverie.

Then nowise worship dusty deeds,
Nor seek, for this is also sooth,
To hunger fiercely after truth,
Lest all thy toiling only breeds
New dreams, new dreams; there is no truth
Saving in thine own heart. Seek, then,
No learning from the starry men,
Who follow with the optic glass
The whirling ways of stars that pass—Seek,
then, for this is also sooth,
No word of theirs—the cold star-bane
Has cloven and rent their hearts in twain,
And dead is all their human truth.
Go gather by the humming sea
Some twisted, echo-harbouring shell,
And to its lips thy story tell,
And they thy comforters will be,
Rewarding in melodious guile
Thy fretful words a little while,
Till they shall singing fade in ruth
And die a pearly brotherhood;
For words alone are certain good:
Sing, then, for this is also sooth.

I must be gone: there is a grave
Where daffodil and lily wave,
And I would please the hapless faun,
Buried under the sleepy ground,
With mirthful songs before the dawn.
His shouting days with mirth were crowned;
And still I dream he treads the lawn,
Walking ghostly in the dew,
Pierced by my glad singing through,
My songs of old earth’s dreamy youth:
But ah! she dreams not now; dream thou!
For fair are poppies on the brow:
Dream, dream, for this is also sooth.

快乐的牧人之歌

阿卡狄的森林已经死了，
其中古朴的欢乐已结束；
往昔的世界靠梦想过活；
如今灰真理是她的玩具，
她仍不安地把头掉过去。
可是啊，世界的病弱子民，
在克罗诺斯嘶哑的歌曲
伴奏下郁郁旋舞过我们，
一切诸多变幻的事物里，
惟有言词才确实地美好。
好战的国王如今在哪里，
那嘲弄言词之辈？——天知道，
好战的国王如今在哪里？
他们的荣耀只是学生娃
阅读着头绪纷繁的故事，
结结巴巴说出的无聊话：
古代的国王如今都已死；
漫游的大地自身就可能
只是个骤然闪耀的字眼，
一时回响在铿锵的空间，
惊扰着绵绵无尽的幻梦。

那就别崇拜尘世的功名，
也不要——因为这也是真理——
如饥似渴地去追求真理，
免得你千辛万苦仅产生
新的梦，新的梦；没有真理，
除了在自己的心里。那就
不要向天文学家求学术，
他们借助着望远镜追踪
掠过的星星的弧旋路径——
别寻求——因为这也是真理——
他们的言词——冰冷的星运
把他们的心已劈成两分，
他们人性的真理都已死。
去那嗡嗡哼唱的大海边
捡一个拢着回声的螺壳，
对螺唇把你的故事述说，
那螺唇就会给你以慰安，
用音律技巧把你的烦恼
言词再重复片刻，一直到
它们唱着在怜悯中消逝，
结成珍珠般兄弟情而死；
因确实美好的惟有言词：
那唱吧，因为这也是真理。

我必须走了：有一处墓穴，
那里摇曳着水仙和百合；
黎明前我要用欢快歌声
让葬在沉睡的地下深处
那不幸的牧神欢喜高兴。
他欢呼的日子早已逝去；
但我仍梦见他踏着草丛
幽灵一般在露水中行走，
被我那欢快的歌声穿透——
我歌唱古老大地梦往昔：
可是啊！她如今不梦；你梦！
山崖上罂粟花开得正盛：
做梦吧，梦吧，这也是真理。

傅浩　译

附

此此诗作于1885年，发表于《都柏林大学评论》（1885年10月），初题为《〈雕像之岛〉和〈寻求者〉的尾声——手执海螺的山林之神的独白》，后题为《最后的阿卡狄亚人之歌》。《雕像之岛》是叶芝的一部诗剧；《寻求者》是一首戏剧诗。诗作于1901年，写叶芝对于1889年与茉德·冈初识的回忆。

阿卡狄：即阿卡狄亚，是古希腊南部一山区。当地居民以牧、猎为生。传统上被视为黄金时代纯朴的田园乌托邦。

灰真理：指世俗或科学真理。叶芝认为真理有两种，一为客观真理，一为主观真理。客观真理是关于物质的，是暂时和相对的，而主观真理是关于人的灵魂的，是永恒和绝对的。因此，只有主观真理才值得追求。

克罗诺斯：希腊语，义为“时间”，被诗人品达人格化为“万物之父”。

罂粟花：睡眠之象征。

叶芝诗集（增订本） 2018 ——

Arcadia is a mountainous region of southern Greece, imaged in the pastoral tradition as an ideal realm of rustic contentment.

Chronos is the Greek word for 'time'; personified by Pindar as 'the father of all.' The similarity of Chronos with Kronos, one of the Titans, led to the latter's identification with Time in cosmogonic speculation.

Rood: in the Christian religion, the Rood is the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, Volume I—