The Temeraire
Excerpt from
The Temeraire
Herman Melville
The gloomy hulls, in armor grim,
Like clouds o'er moors have met,
And prove that oak, and iron, and man
Are tough in fibre yet.
But Splendors wane.
The sea-fight yields
No front of old display;
The garniture, emblazonment,
And heraldry all decay.
Towering afar in parting light,
The fleets like Albion's forelands shine
The full-sailed fleets, the shrouded show
Of Ships-of-the-Line.
The fighting Temeraire,
Built of a thousand trees,
Lunging out her lightnings,
And beetling o'er the seas
…
But Trafalgar' is over now,
The quarter-deck undone;
Tie carved and castled navies fire
Their evening-gun.
O, Tital Temeraire,
Your stern-lights fade away;
Your bulwarks to the years must yield,
And heart-of-oak decay.
A pigmy steam-tug tows you,
Gigantic, to the shore —
Dismantled of your guns and spars,
And sweeping wings of war.
The rivets clinch the iron-clads,
Men learn a deadlier lore;
But Fame has nailed your battle-flags —
Your ghost it sails before:
O, the navies old and oaken,
O, the Temeraire no more!
节选自
《勇莽号》
赫尔曼·梅尔维尔
暗淡的船壳，冰冷的武装，
似汇聚于旷野的乌云，
印证了橡木，铁以及人
纤维仍还坚韧。
然而光彩消退。
战舰已失去昔日的风姿;
装饰物、图案
和纹章都已腐烂。
远远地耸立于消逝的光芒之中，
这些舰如同不列颠海角的余晖
战舰那张满的帆，笼罩着
舰队。
勇莽号，
她用一千棵树建成，
曾浮光跃金，
穿行于海上
…
而现如今，特拉法加战役已经结束，
后甲板被拆下了；
城堡般的雕花战舰发射出
它们的降旗炮。
啊，勇莽号战舰，
你的船尾灯早已褪了色；
你的舷必得屈服于岁月，
你的橡木之心必然腐朽。
一只小汽船拖着你，
巨大无比的你，到达岸边——
拆除你的枪械和桅杆，
还有战争那横扫的翼。
铆钉钉住战舰，
人们学到的知识愈发致命；
但是威望已钉入你的战旗——
你的灵魂，它曾经扬帆远航：
啊，古老的橡木舰，
啊，不再的勇莽号!
翻译：高维艺术
