浮世鸣禽
罗伯特·佩恩·沃伦

不过是一只鸟儿在夜晚鸣叫，不知什么鸟，
当时我提着水从泉旁回来，穿过那边满是石头的草地；
但我站得那么静头顶的天空不会比这桶水中的天空更静。

岁月流逝，所有的场景和面孔都湮没了，有些人已然死去，
我在一处遥远之地站着，夜那么静，我终确知
所念想的不过是鸟鸣时的寂静而非随后消失的某些事物

（翻译：大河原）


Ornithology in a World of Flux
by Robert Penn Warren

It was only a bird call at evening, unidentified,
As I came from the spring with water, across the rocky back-pasture;
But I stood so still sky above was not stiller than sky in pail-water.

Years pass, all places and faces fade, some people have died,
And I stand in a far land, the evening still, and am at last sure
That I miss more that stillness at bird-call than some things that were to fail later