第 130 节
作者:空白协议书      更新:2021-02-21 16:30      字数:9322
  I look down over the farms;
  In the fields of grain I see
  The harvest that is to be;
  And I fling to the air my arms;
  For I know it is all for me。
  I hear the sound of flails
  Far off; from the threshing…floors
  In barns; with their open doors;
  And the wind; the wind in my sails;
  Louder and louder roars。
  I stand here in my place;
  With my foot on the rock below;
  And whichever way it may blow
  I meet it face to face;
  As a brave man meets his foe。
  And while we wrestle and strive
  My master; the miller; stands
  And feeds me with his hands;
  For he knows who makes him thrive;
  Who makes him lord of lands。
  On Sundays I take my rest;
  Church…going bells begin
  Their low; melodious din;
  I cross my arms on my breast;
  And all is peace within。
  THE TIDE RISES; THE TIDE FALLS
  The tide rises; the tide falls;
  The twilight darkens; the curlew calls;
  Along the sea…sands damp and brown
  The traveller hastens toward the town;
  And the tide rises; the tide falls。
  Darkness settles on roofs and walls;
  But the sea in the darkness calls and calls;
  The little waves; with their soft; white hands;
  Efface the footprints in the sands;
  And the tide rises; the tide falls。
  The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
  Stamp and neigh; as the hostler calls;
  The day returns; but nevermore
  Returns the traveller to the shore;
  And the tide rises; the tide falls。
  SONNETS
  MY CATHEDRAL
  Like two cathedral towers these stately pines
  Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones;
  The arch beneath them is not built with stones;
  Not Art but Nature traced these lovely lines;
  And carved this graceful arabesque of vines;
  No organ but the wind here sighs and moans;
  No sepulchre conceals a martyr's bones。
  No marble bishop on his tomb reclines。
  Enter! the pavement; carpeted with leaves;
  Gives back a softened echo to thy tread!
  Listen! the choir is singing; all the birds;
  In leafy galleries beneath the eaves;
  Are singing! listen; ere the sound be fled;
  And learn there may be worship with out words。
  THE BURIAL OF THE POET
  RICHARD HENRY DANA
  In the old churchyard of his native town;
  And in the ancestral tomb beside the wall;
  We laid him in the sleep that comes to all;
  And left him to his rest and his renown。
  The snow was falling; as if Heaven dropped down
  White flowers of Paradise to strew his pall;
  The dead around him seemed to wake; and call
  His name; as worthy of so white a crown。
  And now the moon is shining on the scene;
  And the broad sheet of snow is written o'er
  With shadows cruciform of leafless trees;
  As once the winding…sheet of Saladin
  With chapters of the Koran; but; ah! more
  Mysterious and triumphant signs are these。
  NIGHT
  Into the darkness and the hush of night
  Slowly the landscape sinks; and fades away;
  And with it fade the phantoms of the day;
  The ghosts of men and things; that haunt the light;
  The crowd; the clamor; the pursuit; the flight;
  The unprofitable splendor and display;
  The agitations; and the cares that prey
  Upon our hearts; all vanish out of sight。
  The better life begins; the world no more
  Molests us; all its records we erase
  From the dull common…place book of our lives;
  That like a palimpsest is written o'er
  With trivial incidents of time and place;
  And lo! the ideal; hidden beneath; revives。
  L'ENVOI
  THE POET AND HIS SONGS
  As the birds come in the Spring;
  We know not from where;
  As the stars come at evening
  From depths of the air;
  As the rain comes from the cloud;
  And the brook from the ground;
  As suddenly; low or loud;
  Out of silence a sound;
  As the grape comes to the vine;
  The fruit to the tree;
  As the wind comes to the pine;
  And the tide to the sea;
  As come the white sails of ships
  O'er the ocean's verge;
  As comes the smile to the lips;
  The foam to the surge;
  So come to the Poet his songs;
  All hitherward blown
  From the misty realm; that belongs
  To the vast unknown。
  His; and not his; are the lays
  He sings; and their fame
  Is his; and not his; and the praise
  And the pride of a name。
  For voices pursue him by day;
  And haunt him by night;
  And he listens; and needs must obey;
  When the Angel says: 〃Write!〃
  ***********
  IN THE HARBOR
  BECALMED
  Becalmed upon the sea of Thought;
  Still unattained the land it sought;
  My mind; with loosely…hanging sails;
  Lies waiting the auspicious gales。
  On either side; behind; before;
  The ocean stretches like a floor;
  A level floor of amethyst;
  Crowned by a golden dome of mist。
  Blow; breath of inspiration; blow!
  Shake and uplift this golden glow!
  And fill the canvas of the mind
  With wafts of thy celestial wind。
  Blow; breath of song! until I feel
  The straining sail; the lifting keel;
  The life of the awakening sea;
  Its motion and its mystery!
  THE POET'S CALENDAR
  JANUARY
  Janus am I; oldest of potentates;
  Forward I look; and backward; and below
  I count; as god of avenues and gates;
  The years that through my portals come and go。
  I block the roads; and drift the fields with snow;
  I chase the wild…fowl from the frozen fen;
  My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow;
  My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men。
  FEBRUARY
  I am lustration; and the sea is mine。
  I wash the sands and headlands with my tide;
  My brow is crowned with branches of the pine;
  Before my chariot…wheels the fishes glide。
  By me all things unclean are purified;
  By me the souls of men washed white again;
  E'en the unlovely tombs of those who died
  Without a dirge; I cleanse from every stain。
  MARCH
  I Martius am!  Once first; and now the third!
  To lead the Year was my appointed place;
  A mortal dispossessed me by a word;
  And set there Janus with the double face。
  Hence I make war on all the human race;
  I shake the cities with my hurricanes;
  I flood the rivers and their banks efface;
  And drown the farms and hamlets with my rains。
  APRIL
  I open wide the portals of the Spring
  To welcome the procession of the flowers;
  With their gay banners; and the birds that sing
  Their song of songs from their aerial towers。
  I soften with my sunshine and my showers
  The heart of earth; with thoughts of love I glide
  Into the hearts of men; and with the Hours
  Upon the Bull with wreathed horns I ride。
  MAY
  Hark!  The sea…faring wild…fowl loud proclaim
  My coming; and the swarming of the bees。
  These are my heralds; and behold! my name
  Is written in blossoms on the hawthorn…trees。
  I tell the mariner when to sail the seas;
  I waft o'er all the land from far away
  The breath and bloom of the Hesperides;
  My birthplace。  I am Maia。  I am May。
  JUNE
  Mine is the Month of Roses; yes; and mine
  The Month of Marriages!  All pleasant sights
  And scents; the fragrance of the blossoming vine;
  The foliage of the valleys and the heights。
  Mine are the longest days; the loveliest nights;
  The mower's scythe makes music to my ear;
  I am the mother of all dear delights;
  I am the fairest daughter of the year。
  JULY
  My emblem is the Lion; and I breathe
  The breath of Libyan deserts o'er the land;
  My sickle as a sabre I unsheathe;
  And bent before me the pale harvests stand。
  The lakes and rivers shrink at my command;
  And there is thirst and fever in the air;
  The sky is changed to brass; the earth to sand;
  I am the Emperor whose name I bear。
  AUGUST
  The Emperor Octavian; called the August;
  I being his favorite; bestowed his name
  Upon me; and I hold it still in trust;
  In memory of him and of his fame。
  I am the Virgin; and my vestal flame
  Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage;
  Sheaves are my only garlands; and I claim
  The golden Harvests as my heritage。
  SEPTEMBER
  I bear the Scales; where hang in equipoise
  The night and day; and when unto my lips
  I put my trumpet; with its stress and noise
  Fly the white clouds like tattered sails of ships;
  The tree…tops lash the air with sounding whips;
  Southward the clamorous sea…fowl wing their flight;
  The hedges are all red with haws and hips;
  The Hunter's Moon reigns empress of the night。
  OCTOBER
  My ornaments are fruits; my garments leaves;
  Woven like cloth of gold; and crimson dyed;
  I do not boast the harvesting of sheaves;
  O'er orchards and o'er vineyards I preside。
  Though on the frigid Scorpion I ride;
  The dreamy air is full; and overflows
  With tender memories of the summer…tide;
  And mingled voices of the doves and crows。
  NOVEMBER
  The Ce