聖費羅美娜
◎朗法羅／沈政男翻譯

每當高貴行為鑄造成形，
每當高貴言語脫口而出，
我們的心，在驚喜當中，
提升到更高層次。

較為深邃的靈魂翻起潮浪
湧向我們的內在最深處，
且不知不覺擎舉我們
脫出所有較為卑劣的俗務。

向那些人致敬，他們的言語或行為
如是幫助我們滿足日常需求，
且藉著他們的滿溢
拉拔我們從低處出來！

我這麼想著，當我夜裡讀到
龐大的亡者軍團，
壕溝冰冷潮濕，
飢寒交迫的營帳，—

來自戰場的傷患，
在陰鬱的痛苦醫院，
毫無生氣的長廊，
冰冷石硬的地板，

啊！在苦難之屋中
我看見一位提燈的女士
穿越閃爍的愁雲慘霧，
且輕盈掠過一房又一房。

且緩緩，如同在賜福的夢境裡，
說不出話的受苦者轉身親吻
她的影子，當其落在
陰暗的牆壁之上。

宛如天堂之門竟然
開啟，隨即迅速關閉，
影像來了又去，
光芒照耀已然耗盡。

映照在英國的史冊，透過
她的言辭與歌曲的綿長延續，
那燈光將會投射光芒
來自往昔的門戶。

一位提燈的女士將會站立
在土地的偉大歷史中，
一種高貴善行的典型，
英雄般的女性。

此處甚至不會欠缺
棕櫚，百合，與長矛，
昔日聖費羅美娜
所持有的記號。

SANTA FILOMENA
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
November 1857

Whene'er a noble deed is wrought,
Whene'er is spoken a noble thought,
Our hearts, in glad surprise, 
To higher levels rise.

The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls,
And lifts us unawares
Out of all meaner cares.

Honor to those whose words or deeds
Thus help us in our daily needs,
And by their overflow
Raise us from what is low!

Thus thought I, as by night I read
Of the great army of the dead, 
The trenches cold and damp,
The starved and frozen camp,—

The wounded from the battle-plain,
In dreary hospitals of pain,
The cheerless corridors,
The cold and stony floors.

Lo! in that house of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.

And slow, as in a dream of bliss,
The speechless sufferer turns to kiss
Her shadow, as it falls
Upon the darkening walls.

As if a door in heaven should be
Opened, and then closed suddenly,
The vision came and went,
The light shone was spent.

On England's annals, through the long
Hereafter of her speech and song,
That light its rays shall cast
From portals of the past.

A lady with a lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.

Nor even shall be wanting here
The palm, the lily, and the spear,
The symbols that of yore
Saint Filomena bore.

＊聖費羅美娜是古希臘的殉難公主，後來被冊封為聖人。提燈的女士即為英國的南丁格爾，她在1853年克里米亞戰爭爆發後，主動帶醫療團到戰場照顧傷兵，催生了現代護理體系。這首詩是美國詩人朗法羅歌頌南丁格爾的名作。