一个老人，走过一条道路孤单，
日落黄昏，阴冷而且灰暗，
到了一个河谷，又大，又深，又宽，
高涨的水，涌流在中间。
老人不担心那涨溢的河流，
因他在黄昏已经过到对岸；
他回来要筑一道跨河的桥，
虽然他已安全到了那边。
有个同路的旅人来对他说：
“老人，你何必浪费气力修建；
你不需要再经过这条路，
你的行程要终结在将完今天；
你已经渡过了这广阔的深渊，
何必要筑桥在天色已晚？”
筑桥者抬起他白发苍苍的头说：
“朋友，我走过了这条道路，
今天有个跟随我的少年人，
他的脚步也要经过这旅途。
这深渊对过来人已不算什么，
对那少年却可能使他失足。
好朋友，我是为了来人修筑，
因为他也要经过在昏暗的日暮。” |
"An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And build a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide—
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me to-day
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him." |
