The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
《J.阿尔弗瑞德.普鲁弗洛克的情歌》
BY T. S. ELIOT
作者简介：托马斯·斯特尔那斯·艾略特（Thomas Stearns Eliot，1888年9月26日-1965年1月4日）（通称T·S·艾略特），英国诗人、剧作家和文学批评家，诗歌现代派运动领袖。 出生于美国密苏里州的圣路易斯。 代表作品有《荒原》、《四个四重奏》等。1927年，艾略特加入英国国籍。1943年结集出版的《四个四重奏》使他获得了1948年度诺贝尔文学奖。晚年致力于诗剧创作。1965年艾略特在伦敦逝世。
这首诗发表于1915年。模仿了法国象征派诗人儒尔·拉夫格的风格，具有很浓的讽刺意味。
中文翻译：忒绿
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al monda,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
如果我相信我的回答
被回到这个世界的任何人听见，
这个火焰将立即静止不会再动弹。
可是因为没人能够从地狱的深渊
活着重返人间，如果我所听到的是真，
我回答你就不再害怕被诅咒诬陷。
1 Let us go then, you and I,
那么我们走吧，你和我
2 When the evening is spread out against the sky
正是傍晚夜色弥散漫布天廓
3 Like a patient etherized upon a table;
象一个病人麻醉在手术台上；
4 Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
我们走吧，穿过一些半荒废的街区，
5 The muttering retreats
变得模糊低语
6 Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
躁动不安的夜休栖在廉价的一夜旅店
7 And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
还有满是牡蛎贝壳的锯末饭馆：
8 Streets that follow like a tedious argument
前面的街好似一场单调的争辩
9 Of insidious intent
并且意图阴险
10 To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
把你引向一个无法回避的疑问…
11 Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
哦，不要问，“它是什么？”
12 Let us go and make our visit.
走吧我们上门请教。
13 In the room the women come and go
屋子里女人们进出穿梭
14 Talking of Michelangelo.
正谈到了米开朗基罗。
15 The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
黄雾在玻璃窗上磨蹭着它的背，
16 The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
黄烟在玻璃窗上磨蹭着它的嘴，
17 Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
它伸舌舔向了黑夜的角角落落，
18 Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
徘徊在了下水道沟池的上面，
19 Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
从烟囱飘下的烟灰掉落在它背上，
20 Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
滑下了露台，作了一个突然的上跳，
21 And seeing that it was a soft October night,
因为知道这是个温和十月的夜晚
22 Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
又在房子附近盘旋了一阵，然后睡着。
23 And indeed there will be time
是的确实还会有时间
24 For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
给沿街滑行的黄烟，
25 Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
在玻璃窗上磨蹭着它的背；
26 There will be time, there will be time
还会有时间，还会有时间
27 To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
来准备一张脸去见你须见的一张张脸；
28 There will be time to murder and create,
还会有时间杀戮与册封，
29 And time for all the works and days of hands
也有时间打理所有手头的活计与日子
30 That lift and drop a question on your plate;
就这样拿起一个疑问又丢在你的餐盘；
31 Time for you and time for me,
有时间给你也有时间给我，
32 And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
还有时间给无数的犹豫不定，
33 And for a hundred visions and revisions,
以及无数的憧憬与修订，
34 Before the taking of a toast and tea.
在用些茶点之前。
35 In the room the women come and go
屋子里女人们进出穿梭
36 Talking of Michelangelo.
正谈到了米开朗基罗。
37 And indeed there will be time
是的确实还会有时间
38 To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
迟疑自问，“我敢不敢？”，我敢不敢？”
39 Time to turn back and descend the stair,
是时候该转身走下台阶，
40 With a bald spot in the middle of my hair --
由于头发中央有一块秃斑- -
41 (They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!")
（他们会说：“他的头发怎么变稀！”
42 My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
我的早礼服，领子贴着下颌立起，
43 My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by simple pin --
我的领带显得富贵得体，却配了一个简易的领带夹子- -
44 (They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")
（他们会说：“不过他的四肢怎么那么细！”）
45 Do I dare
我敢不敢
46 Disturb the universe?
搅乱这个宇宙？
47 In a minute there is time
一分钟里也有时间
48 For decisions and
revisions which a minute will reverse.
决定和修订会在一分钟内反转。
49 For I have known them all already, known them all--
因为我已经完全了解了他们，完全了解了他们- -
50 Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
已经了解了这些夜晚，早晨，下午，
51 I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
我已用咖啡汤匙测出我生命的长度；
52 I know the voices dying with a dying fall
我知道这些声音正在死亡伴随一个正在死亡的落体
53 Beneath the music from a farther room.
在远处房间传来的音乐下面。
54 So how should I presume？
那么我该如何擅自行事？
55 And I have known the eyes already, known them all- -
我还已经了解了这些眼睛，完全了解了他们- -
56 The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
这些眼睛将你固定在僵化状态，
57 And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
我被固化，并铺展开来挂上钉子，
58 When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
我被挂上钉子在墙上不停扭动，
59 Then how should I begin
那么我该如何开始
60 To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
吐出我行我素的烟蒂？
61 And how should I presume?
那么我该如何擅自行事？
62 And I have known the arms already, known them all--
我也已经了解了他们的手臂，完全了解了他们-
63 Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
这些手臂佩戴手镯肤白又赤裸
64 (But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
在灯光下，却可见淡棕色汗毛！）
65 Is it perfume from a dress
这是谁的礼服上的香水如此
66 That makes me so digress?
分散我的注意力？
67 Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
扶在桌子上，或者围着披肩的这些手臂。
68 And should I then presume?
那么我就应该擅自行事吗？
69 And how should I begin?
我又该如何开始？
70 Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
我该不该说，我已在黄昏穿过窄巷
71 And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
看到从烟袋管子里冒出的烟
72 Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?…
噙着烟袋的孤独男人们只穿着衫袖，俯身探出窗外？…
73 I should have been a pair of ragged claws
我应该成为一双粗糙的爪子
74 Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
匆匆穿过沉默的海底。
75 And the afternoons, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
于是这些下午、这个晚上， 非常平静地睡觉！
76 Smoothed by long fingers,
被纤长的手指抚平，
77 Asleep . . . tired . . . or it malingers,
昏沉…疲乏…或者它装病，
78 Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
在地板上伸懒腰，过来靠着你和我。
79 Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
我可否，用过茶和蛋糕和冰之后，
80 Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
有力量驱使这个时刻去面对它的危机？
81 But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
可是尽管我已哭泣着禁食，哭泣着祈祷，
82 Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
尽管我已看见我的头（些许变秃）放在一个浅盘，
83 I am no prophet--and here's no great matter;
我并非先知- -所以这里也没有大事出现；
84 I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
我已看到我的伟大闪烁的瞬间，
85 And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
我还看到永恒的神仆拿着我的外套，窃笑满脸，
86 And, in short, I was afraid.
那么，就简单地说吧，我怕了。
87 And would it have been worth it, after all,
那么如果它一直值得这样，在这一切之后，
88 After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
在品尝了红酒，果酱，茶饮之后，
88 Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
瓷器里，你和我的交谈里，
90 Would it have been worth while,
如果它一直值得，
91 To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
去用一个微笑让痛苦少些，
92 To have squeezed the universe into a ball
去把宇宙压缩成小球
93 To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
把它推向某个无法回避的疑问，
94 To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
去说： “我是拉扎勒斯，来自死亡，
95 Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
回来告诉你们，我将告诉你们”- -
96 If one, setting a pillow by her head,
如果有人，在她的头旁边放个枕头，
97 Should say: "That is not what I meant at all;
说：“那根本不是我的本意；
98 That is not it, at all."
那不是，根本不是。
99 And would it have been worth it, after all,
那么它是否一直值得这样，在这一切之后，
100 Would it have been worth while,
它是否一直值得，
101 After the sunsets and the dooryards and sprinkled streets,
在日落和前院和洒过水的街道之后，
102 After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor--
在小说之后，茶盏之后，拖地长裙之后- -
103 And this, and so much more?--
以及这个，还有更多？--
104 It is impossible to say just what I mean!
说这正是我本意是不可能的！
105 But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
但是好像一盏魔灯把神经图案投影在银屏：
106 Would it have been worth while
如果它一直值得
107 If one, setting a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
如果有人，摆放一个枕头或者扔掉披肩，
108 And turning toward the window, should say:
并转向窗户，说：
109 "That is not it at all,
“那根本不是它，
110 That is not what I meant at all."
那根本不是我本意.”
111 No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
不！我不是王子哈姆雷特，也无意成为他；
112 Am an attendant lord, one that will do
就做个侍臣，这个差事可以
113 To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
去充个场面，应个景，
114 Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
侍应王子；一个好使的工具，
115 Deferential, glad to be of use,
恭敬的， 乐意为人所用，
116 Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
明智的，谨慎的，一丝不苟；
117 Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
都是高级语言，但有些晦涩难懂；
118 At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
有时候，确实，几乎是荒谬滑稽- -
119 Almost, at times, the Fool.
几乎，有时候，是个愚者。
120 I grow old ... I grow old ...
我渐渐变老 … 我渐渐变老 …
121 I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
我会把裤腿卷好。
122 Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
我可不可以把后面的头发往前梳？我敢不敢吃桃子？
123 I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
我要在海滩上漫步，穿着白色法兰绒裤子。
124 I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
我已经听到美人鱼在歌唱，一对一。
125 I do not think that they will sing to me.
我觉得她们不会唱给我听。
126 I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
我已经看见她们乘着波浪游进大海
127 Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
梳理着回流波浪的白发
128 When the wind blows the water white and black.
当风吹海水黑白变化。
129 We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
我们缠绵在海的宫殿
130 By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
戴着红棕双色海草的海女们陪伴身旁
131 Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
直到被人类的声音唤醒，于是我们溺亡。
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