里昂夜讀英語美文 [415]:最后的葉片

 

The Last Leaf -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

最后的葉片--奧利弗·溫德爾·霍姆斯

 

 

I saw him once before, as he passed by the door

他曾從門前經(jīng)過，我在一旁觀望

And again, the pavement stones resound

如今，石板路又噠噠作響

As he totters o'er the ground with his cane

他蹣跚走來，手里拄著拐杖

They say that in his prime

人們說他當(dāng)時年輕力壯

Ere the pruning-knife of time cut him down

時光的剪刀雖有銳利鋒芒，尚未削去他的青春模樣

Not a better man was found

周圍的人們有口皆碑

By the Crier on his round through the town

滿城數(shù)他最為善良

But now he walks the streets

如今，他卻在街頭流浪

And he looks at all he meets sad and wan

看著別人的面孔，憔悴憂傷

And he shakes his feeble head

虛弱的腦袋，不斷搖晃

That it seems as if he said, "They are gone!"

似乎在說：“他們已不在世上”？

The mossy marbles rest on the lips that he has prest in their bloom

他曾熱吻過的姑娘，就在這墓中安葬

And the names he loved to hear have been carved for many a year on the tomb

一塊生苔的石碑，立在墓旁，刻著他所愛慕的芳名，歲月悠長

My grandmamma has said-- poor old lady, she is dead, long ago--

我年邁的祖母久已過世，話音還在耳邊回蕩

That he had a Roman nose

說他長著高高的鼻梁

And his cheek was like a rose in the snow

說他的面頰像一朵玫瑰，在雪中綻放

But now his nose is thin, and it rests upon his chin like a staff

可是現(xiàn)在，他的鼻子干癟瘦長，貼近下巴像纖細的棍棒

And a crook is in his back, and a melancholy crack in his laugh

彎腰駝背，沙啞的笑聲帶著不盡的凄涼

I know it is a sin for me to sit and grin at him here

坐著笑看他的模樣，一種負罪的感覺在我心底隱藏

But the old three-cornered hat

可那破舊的尖頂小帽

And the breeches, and all that

還有馬褲，所有的衣裝

Are so queer!

實在是奇形怪狀！

And if I should live to be

假如我的生命十分久長

The last leaf upon the tree in the spring

能夠成為最后的葉片掛在春天的樹上

Let them smile, as I do now

讓人們沖著我懸掛的殘枝發(fā)笑吧

At the old forsaken bough where I cling

就像我現(xiàn)在這樣那殘枝久已被人們淡忘

 

 

英語美文