Ulysses - Alfred Tennyson
最后一段，被007里的老太太引用，十分切合
ULYSSES
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
that loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea. I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known---cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honored of them all---
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades
Forever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end.
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, my own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle---
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me---
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads---you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
the sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be that we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are---
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
这太无谓——当一个闲散的君主
安居家中，在这个嶙峋的岛国．
我与年老的妻子相匹，颁布着
不公的法律，治理野蛮的种族，——
他们吃、睡、收藏，而不理解我。
我不能停歇我的跋涉；我决心
饮尽生命之杯。我一生都在
体验巨大的痛苦、巨大的欢乐，
有时与爱我的狄伴一起，有时却
独自一个；不论在岸上或海上，
当带来雨季的毕宿星团催动
激流滚滚，扬起灰暗的海波。
我已经变成这样一个名字，—一
由于我如饥似渴地漂泊不止，
我已见识了许多民族的城
及其风气、习俗、枢密院、政府，
而我在他们之中最负盛名；
在遥远而多风的特洛亚战场，
我曾陶醉于与敌手作战的欢欣。
我自己是我全部经历的一部分；
而全部经验，也只是一座拱门，
尚未游历的世界在门外闪光，
而随着我一步一步的前进，
它的边界也不断向后退让。
最单调最沉闷的是停留，是终止，
是蒙尘生锈而不在使用中发亮！
难道说呼吸就能算是生活？
几次生命堆起来尚嫌太少，
何况我唯一的生命已余年无多。
唯有从永恒的沉寂之中抢救
每个小时，让每个小时带来
一点新的收获。最可厌的是
把自己长期封存、贮藏起来，
让我灰色的灵魂徒然渴望
在人类思想最远的边界之外
追求知识．像追求沉没的星星。
这是我的儿子忒勒玛科斯，
我给他留下我的岛国和王杖，
他是我所爱的，他有胆有识，
能胜任这一工作；谨慎耐心地
教化粗野的民族，用温和的步骤
驯化他们，使他们善良而有用。
他是无可指责的，他虽年少，
在我离去后他会担起重任，
并对我家的佑护神表示崇敬。
他和我，将各做各的工作。
海港就在那边，船儿已经扬帆，
大海黑暗一片。我的水手们——
与我同辛劳、同工作、同思想的人，
对雷电和阳光永远同等欢迎．
并用自由的心与头颅来抗争，——
你们和我都已老了，但老年
仍有老年的荣誉、老年的辛劳；
死亡终结一切，但在终点前
我们还能做一番崇高的事业，
使我们配称为与神斗争的人。
礁石上的灯标开始闪光了，
长昼将尽，月亮缓缓攀登，
大海用无数音响在周围呻唤。
来呀．朋友们，探寻更新的世界
现在尚不是为时过晚。开船吧！
坐成排，划破这喧哗的海浪，
我决心驶向太阳沉没的彼方，
超越西方星斗的浴场，至死
方止。也许深渊会把我们吞噬，
也许我们将到达琼岛乐土，
与老朋友阿喀琉斯会晤。
尽管已达到的多，未知的也多啊，
虽然我们的力量已不如当初，
已远非昔日移天动地的雄姿，
但我们仍是我们，英雄的心
尽管被时间消磨，被命运削弱，
我们的意志坚强如故，坚持着
奋斗、探索、寻求，而不屈服。
（飞白译）