英國詩人湯瑪斯．葛雷 (Thomas Gray,1716-1771) 在1750年寫了這首詩，時年34歲。次年發行後，膾炙人口，傳頌一時。據聞在1759年，英國七年戰爭時的名將詹姆士．沃爾夫(James Wolfe）在某重大戰役前夕，對其軍官朗讀了這首詩，並說道：「先生們，我寧可寫了這首詩而非明天去拿下魁北克。」

翻譯這首32詩節,隔行押尾韻的四行詩（共128行），除了在模棱的字義中，盡力追索詩人的意念與情緒外，我認為中文也必須依原詩的型式押尾韻，才可能符合詩人所欲營造的氣氛。隔行換韻，一返一往，讀者遂隨之蹇步於陰陽虛實間，徘徊在信與疑，從與逆，喜與懼，記憶與遺忘的情緒裡。

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
By Thomas Gray
作於鄉村教堂墓園的哀歌
湯瑪斯‧葛雷 作
刁卿蕙 譯

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o‘er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
 And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

晚鐘敲出離別之日的噩訊,
低嗚牛群蜿蜒緩緩上草坡,
返家的農夫步履蹣跚倦沉,
把世界留給了黑暗以及我。

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
 And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

此刻景色朦朧從眼前漸黯黑,
一股肅靜將所有的空氣凝結,
除了甲蟲在嗡嗡繞著圈子飛,
催眠鈴噹聲在遠處羊棚間歇;

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such, as wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.

除了遠方藤蔓覆蓋的樓塔,
那鬱鳴夜梟可真招月娘怨
如此梭巡靠近她神秘閨闥,
侵犯了她古老的寂寞轄苑。

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree’s shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a moldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

粗硬的榆樹下, 紫杉樹蔭底,
許多荒塚上的草皮起伏舒捲,
各自永臥在其狹仄的墓穴裏,
村落粗野眾先祖在安息長眠。

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,
 The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
The cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

爐香飄動清晨裏的微風輕吟,
來自草築窩巢中的燕子呢喃,
公雞澈亮尖啼, 或是號角迴音,
再不能使他們從下榻處醒轉。

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
 Or busy housewife ply her evening care;
No children run to lisp their sire’s return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.

壁爐裏的烈焰將不再為他們燒燃,
忙碌的主婦也不再夜來頻添薪木;
沒有黃口小兒奔告其父祖的歸返,
或是攀上其膝分得一吻備受羨慕。

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

過去他們的鐮下屢有豐穫,
其犁常使頑抗旱地裂了口;
當他們成隊驅原時,有多麼樂活!
在他們堅毅打擊下,森林低了頭!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
 The short and simple annals of the poor.

野心之士別嘲弄他們實用的辛勞,
他們的家常趣味, 和幽微的命運;
顯貴之族聽時也莫帶鄙夷的微笑
窮人的編年史簡短且單純。

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all the wealth e’er  gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

家徽的誇耀,權力的華飾,
所有的美,所有曾賦予的財富,
同樣等候那不可避免的一時。
榮顯之徑條條通往墳墓。

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,
 If Memory o’er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
 The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

你可別, 驕傲的你,歸咎這些為錯誤,
假如記憶之神未在他們的墳上樹立獎牌,
那麼在通過綿延長廊和細工雕飾的穹窿處,
轟然的頌歌會盈滿讚美的節拍。

Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honor’s voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

畫有故事的骨灰罈 或 詡詡如生的胸像
可會召喚逃逸了的呼吸重返其華寓?
榮譽的呼聲可會令沉默的塵土激揚?
或可取悅死神遲鈍冷酷之耳以阿諛?

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands that  the rod of empire might have swayed,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.

或許在此不起眼的一角埋有
曾經孕育天火的某顆心;
一雙帝國權杖也會迴避的手,
或撩動狂喜以生命之弦琴。

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time did ne’er unroll;
Chill Penury repressed their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

但在他們眼裏,知識女神的豐頁
富含時光劫毀之美實未曾展露;
寒冷的貧窮壓抑其高尚之詩躍,
凍結了靈魂中那股親和的暖流。

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

有多少寶石散發最純淨清澈的光線,
卻是處在深黝不可測的海洋洞穴叢;
有多少花朵生就可令未見者羞紅臉.
卻是浪擲了其香甜於沙漠的空氣中。

Some village Hampton, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
 Some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood.

某漢普敦村人, 挺著無畏的胸臆
對抗了橫行在他田莊的小霸主;
某啞巴無名彌爾頓可能安息此地,
某個克倫威爾令其家園之血無辜。

The applause of listening senates to command,
 The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o’er a smiling land,
 And read their history in a nation’s eyes,

傾聽議會的掌聲在主導,
蔑視痛苦和毀滅的威脅,
在這片微笑的土地上播灑豐饒,
且讀他們的歷史以一國之眼界。

Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

他們的命運禁絕: 非獨然劃規
其茁長的美德,其罪亦受礙,
禁絕經屠殺以登王位,
並拒人類於慈悲之門外,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
 With incense kindled at the Muse’s flame.

藏起覺察真理的痛苦掙扯,
澆熄天真靦腆的羞赧紅顏,
否則就堆積起驕奢的神社
以繆思之焰來點燃爐香捲。

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
 Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

遠離瘋狂群眾的卑賤營汲,
他們清醒的願望從未學會迷失,
沿著冷涼偏僻的生命谷底
他們維持了路程寂靜以其方式。

Yet even these bones from insult to protect
 Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth thymes and shapeless sculpture decked,
 Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

然而即令這些枯骨免於受凌厄
某衰敗碑銘仍在附近兀立,
飾有古怪韻文和不成形的雕刻,
懇求路過者付予一聲歎息。

Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered Muse,
 The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
 That teach the rustic moralist to die.

他們的姓名,生年,由不識字的繆思讀拼,
補充以名聲之地及哀歌輓詩:
她在周遭散佈許多神聖經文,
教導不文的衛道者如何辭世。

For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
 This pleasing anxious being e’er resigned,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing lingering look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
 Some pious drops the closing eye requires:
Even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
 Even in our ashes live their wonted fires.

離世魂魄所依的胸膛慈悲溫暖,
某虔敬者依要求垂下緊閉的眼;
即使從墓中也聽到自然女神哭喊,
即使在我們灰燼裏也續存其故焰。

For thee, who mindful of the unhonored dead
Does in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,

而你,如此關切那些無榮之亡魂,
在此詩行中可連結其質樸小傳?
如有契機,藉由孤獨暝思的導引,
某志同的幽靈將探索你的因緣,

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
“Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
 To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

或許某個白髮鄉紳會說,
「 我們經常看到他在破曉之際,
快步疾走將露珠抖落,
迎見太陽在高坡上的草地。

“There at foot of yonder nodding beech
 That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

「在遠處遙曳的山櫸腳旁,
神奇的老樹根盤旋升高,
正午他會伸展慵懶身長,
對著潺潺流過的河水思考。

“Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
 Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove,
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
 Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love.

「 傍彼處之林,今微笑似輕睨,
喃喃低語恣意幻象的他在徘徊,
現漸垂喪,悲慘陰鬱,如遭遺棄,
或憂慮發狂,或苦於無望的愛。

“One morn I missed him on the customed hill,
Along the heath and near his favorite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

「有天早晨, 我沒見著他在慣常的坡上,
沿著石楠欉和他所喜愛的樹附近;
又一個早晨,既不在小河旁,
不在草地上,也不見他在那樹林;

“The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow through the church way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,
 Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.”

「次日悲傷隊伍哀悼當其時
我們見他緩緩被抬向教堂的小徑。
走近並請唸(給能讀的你)這短詩,
鐫刻石上在彼下方古老荊棘叢。」

THE EPITAPH
Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A youth to Fortune and Fame unknown.
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy marked him for her own.

墓誌銘
於此處大地膝上枕首
乃一財富與名聲兩不識的青年。
美善學識之神對其卑微出身不蹙眉頭,
憂鬱女神卻予以青睞撿選。

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Misery all he had, a tear,
 He gained from Heaven (‘twas all he wished) a friend.

他何其慷慨大度, 他的靈魂何其真誠無欺,
天堂於是大大地予以報酬:
他傾其所有都給了苦難之神, 淚珠一滴,
他得到來自天堂(這曾是他最期望的)一個朋友。

No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode
(There they alike in trembling hope repose),
 The bosom of his Father and his God.

毋需再深入找尋他的優點來展現,
或拉出他那薄弱意志自其可怖的居所
(在那兒他們亦同樣打著哆嗦希望安眠)
自他的天父和他的上帝的心窩。