Ulysses
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
Vest 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 honoured 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 untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breath were life. Life piled on life
Were all to 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, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle—
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labour, 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 had yet his honour 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 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 the 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.
译文
我是一个老国王，整天坐在火炉旁，
陪着我的老皇后，生活清闲又无聊，
我的岛国山连山，人民愚蠢又野蛮。
我颁布法律数不清，好让他们不捣乱。
法律不是很公平，整治他们难上难。
他们吃了睡，睡了吃，一点不懂我心思。
我已休息很充分，我要出门去远征。
不爱享受和安闲，乘风破浪若等闲。
在我过去一生里，吃过的苦头赛黄连，
享受的快乐比密甜。
有时结队去远航，有时孤独去高原，
穿越深林和河流，不怕艰险永向前。
见过无数大城市，古怪的民族和衣裳，
风俗，动物，和王朝，奇花异草吐芬芳。
交往结交皆洋人，天下无人不知君 。
曾和藩王去远征，来到遥远的特洛伊，
葡萄美酒夜光杯，木马屠城美名传。
唉，经历只是一扇门，透过大门我还见，
未知世界在远方，光怪陆离闪金光。
只要我向前走一步，她就后退两三步，
永远和我捉迷藏，我心不知在何方。
吃喝玩乐非所愿，我的理想不寻常，
宁愿丧生在旅途，不愿老死在病床。
即使生命快结束，也要追求新事物，
天涯海角走一遭。
这是我的小王子，名叫泰得马多思，
我的一生最爱他，现把岛国传给他。
他是贤明好国王，会用谨慎的好方法，
教导这些野蛮人，变成良民人人夸。
他是你们的好皇上，勤政爱民保国家，
他将替我拜祖宗，你们都要忠于他。
海港就在那一边，船儿马上要出发，
惊涛骇浪来拍岸，大海茫茫闪金光。
火眼金睛老水手，和我一同去远航。
他们和我一样老，豪情壮志冲云霄。
老人同样有理想，也有事业和荣光。
人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照四方。
全能上帝在胸怀，我心不知在何方。
导航灯塔放光芒，月儿园园照四方，
海上的灵魂在喊，新新世界欢迎你，
快快出发莫彷徨。
我要乘坐大帆船，天涯海角走一遭，
看看月亮的安乐窝，晚霞升起的地方，
也许会死在风暴里，也许来到神秘岛，
碰到战友阿奇里，青梅煮酒叙衷肠。
当年事业多辉煌，横扫千军谁敢当。
时间过了很多年，昔日英姿在何方。
如今头颅白似雪，精疲力尽手足凉。
但我仍有英雄胆，还要继续去远方。
我为人生唱赞歌，诗成余意尚彷徨。