朗費羅 ，〈奧古斯丁的梯子〉／Longfellow, The Ladder of St. Augustine
Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,
That of our vices we can frame
A ladder, if we will but tread
Beneath our feet each deed of shame!
All common things, each day's events,
That with the hour begin and end,
Our pleasures and our discontents,
Are rounds by which we may ascend.
The low desire, the base design,
That makes another's virtues less;
The revel of the ruddy wine,
And all occasions of excess;
The longing for ignoble things;
The strife for triumph more than truth;
The hardening of the heart, that brings
Irreverence for the dreams of youth;
All thoughts of ill; all evil deeds,
That have their root in thoughts of ill;
Whatever hinders or impedes
The action of the nobler will; —
All these must first be trampled down
Beneath our feet, if we would gain
In the bright fields of fair renown
The right of eminent domain.
We have not wings, we cannot soar;
But we have feet to scale and climb
By slow degrees, by more and more,
The cloudy summits of our time.
The mighty pyramids of stone
That wedge-like cleave the desert airs,
When nearer seen, and better known,
Are but gigantic flights of stairs.
The distant mountains, that uprear
Their solid bastions to the skies,
Are crossed by pathways, that appear
As we to higher levels rise.
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
Standing on what too long we bore
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern — unseen before —
A path to higher destinies,
Nor doom the irrevocable Past
As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
If, rising on its wrecks, at last
To something nobler we attain.
Longfellow, Birds of Passage , The Ladder of St. Augustine
聖奧古斯丁！你這話講得真好：
從我們的邪惡裡我們可以豎起
一道梯子，只要我們用腳
把每一穢行踩在了腳底！
一切日常的事物，日復一日裡
不斷生發和終結著的事情，
我們的喜樂，我們的怨艾
都是我們可假以攀登的路徑。
低俗的欲望，心眼兒不正，
想把別人的節操加以詆毀的詭計；
燈紅酒綠的狂歡狂飲，
以及一切其他放縱的行為；
非分或是過分的渴望；
一味地要壓倒別人而不是求得真理；
心兒變硬，對青春時的夢想
再不予理會而是嗤之以鼻；
一切骯髒的思想；一切植根於
這些骯髒思想的污穢行為；
一切阻礙或是抑止
崇高行動的所為──
所有這一切都必須首先被
我們踏在腳下，唯有如此
我們才能在那明媚崇高之域
爭得我們制統的權利。
我們沒有翅膀，我們不能飛翔；
但是我們可以一點一點地，
積少成多地，用我們的腳
登攀到我們這個時代的峰巔。
宏偉的金字塔，像巨形的楔子
劃破沙漠的上空，
可是當你走得更近看得更清楚時，
你會發現它們是由一節節的石階組成。
遠處的高山，像一道道屏障壁壘
把它們的身軀直插藍天，
可待我滿上到相應的高度時
盤繞著它們的小路就會出現在前面。
偉人們抵達和持有的高度
不是憑他們的一蹴而就，
而是於夜晚同伴們都睡著的時候
他們仍在登爬，無止無休。
當我們最終站立在我們太久地
彎腰低眼所沉溺的事務之上的時候，
我們就會發現出──以前從不曾見過的──
通往更崇高之目的地的道路。
不要以為那無法抹掉的過去，
就是完全的虛度了，完全的徒勞，
如果我們最終在它的廢墟上站立起來，
並從那兒使自己得到了昇華。
朗費羅，王晉華譯，《朗費羅詩歌選》，奧古斯丁的梯子，太原：北岳文藝，2000，頁81-83
※斜體字為 Aplypius改譯。