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威廉·巴特勒·叶芝(William Butler Yeats),曾于1923年获得诺贝尔文学奖，获奖的理由是“以其高度艺术化且洋溢着灵感的诗作表达了整个民 族的灵魂”。
这首诗作于1921年。根据基督教传说，基督将在世界末日重临人间主持审 判。叶芝认为古希腊罗马传下来的西方文明今天已接近毁灭时期，两百年 内即将出现一种粗野狂暴的反文明，作为走向另一种贵族文明的过渡。
The Second Coming
基督再临
William Butler Yeats
威廉·巴特勒·叶芝
Turnig and turning in the widening gyre
猎鹰绕着越来越大的圈子不停地盘旋
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
再也听不见放鹰人的呼唤；
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
万物分崩离析；中心难以为系；
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
世上只落下一盘散沙的无政府主义，
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
血色迷糊的潮流奔腾汹涌，
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
天真的仪典，亦忍为滔天血浪所湮没;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
至善者毫无信心，而至恶者
Are full of passionate intensity.
却躁动不止。
Surely some revelation is at hand;
一准是某种启示已近在眼前；
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
一准是基督再临就在眼前。
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
基督再临！话未出□，
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
一个巨大的形象便出现在人们脑际
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
令我花了眼：在大漠沙海之中，
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
一个獅身人面的形体
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
目光如烈日般茫然而无情。
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
正缓慢地挪动腿脚，周围环绕着
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
—群义愤的沙漠鸟的影子。
The darkness drops again; but now I know
黑暗再度降临；不过现在我知道
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
过去两千年岩石般的沉睡
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
都被摇篮摇成了噩梦般的烦恼，
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
何等粗野的畜牲，它的时辰巳至，
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
慵懒地朝伯利恒走去投生。
