英文詩 To an Athlete Dying Young

霍思曼man，1859-1936.4.30，英國現代最偉大的古典學者之一和傑出的詩人。

英文詩To an Athlete Dying Young

by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

給一位英年早逝的運動員

The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the market-place;

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high.

當年,你爲小鎮贏得了比賽

我們舉起你穿過市場

男女老幼夾道歡迎

你在人們肩頭凱旋

To-day, the road all runners come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

今天, 人們又聚集在一起

把你擡在肩上爲你送行

輕輕放你歸於塵土

小鎮爲你肅穆寧靜

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields were glory does not stay

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

明智的你早早離去

因爲榮耀不能爲誰停留

月桂樹轉瞬蒼翠

卻比玫瑰凋零的還快

Eyes the shady night has shut

Cannot see the record cut,

And silence sounds no worse than cheers

After earth has stopped the ears:

黑夜的幕布拉下

再也看不到記錄被打破

沉寂不會比歡呼更糟

你在大地的深處長眠

Now you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours out,

Runners whom renown outran

And the name died before the man.

現在,你將永不會被擊敗

他們的榮耀轉瞬間即逝

儘管後來的冠軍輩出

活着時名字已被人遺忘

So set, before its echoes fade,

The fleet foot on the sill of shade,

And hold to the low lintel up

The still-defended challenge-cup.

趁着榮耀消逝之前

敏捷雙腳踏上歸途

在門樑上懸掛着的是

永恆的冠軍獎盃

And round that early-laurelled head

Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,

And find unwithered on its curls

The garland briefer than a girl's.

那些早先的冠軍們

將會嫉妒地注視着你

你捲髮上的月桂花環

將永不會枯萎