帕特里克·亨利·皮尔斯《愚人》

既然那智者都未开口，
说话的我便是一个愚人；
一个爱着自己的愚蠢的愚人。
是的，比智者更爱他们的藏书，
他们的会计室或安宁的家，
或他们在人们嘴边的名气；
一个愚人在他的生命里从不做谨慎的事，
从不计算得失，也不因益而退，
他大量的播种生出的果子，
只是为了散播种子。
一个愚人是顽固不悔的，向死而生的，
他孤心里的嘲笑将如
成熟的麦子被钩子收割时一样，
那些一无所有的穷苦人将被满足，
而他将忍受饥饿。
我已挥霍上帝赐予我青春的灿烂岁月，
去尝试不可能的事情，认为它们值得辛劳。

那是愚蠢还是荣耀？
除了神外，无人可以评判。
我已挥霍了那些灿烂岁月；
主啊，若我再度拥有，我还会挥霍！
是的，从我身上甩开！
我在心中听过这样的声音，
一个人应当散漫，而非保守聚藏；
应当只承担今日的负担，而非为明日苦恼，
不该与上帝讨价还价，与基督开玩笑？
这是否为我的罪过，只因服从主的教导？
律师们坐在会议厅里，
他们带着敏锐而冗长的面孔，
说，“这人是个蠢人”，
他人则说，“他渎神！”
智者们则怜悯愚人，
因他曾努力谋生，
在这布满着实质的时空世界，
成就一个仅在心中梦想过的梦，
也只有自己的心可以承受其重。

智者们，请为我解答：
若这梦成真又会怎么样？
这梦想成真又该怎么办？那无数未出生的人
住在我心中构造的房子
那用我尊贵的思想建起的房子？
主啊，我以我的灵魂打赌，
以我的亲人的生命打赌，
赌你那令人生畏的话语里的真理。
不要记住我的失败，
但请铭记我的信念，我如是说。
是的，尽管我炽热的青春已逝，
我要对我的人民说道：
你们当像我那般愚蠢；你们当分散而非保留；
你们当不顾一切地冒险，以免失去的比一切更多；
你们当呼召奇迹的发生，听取基督和他的教导。
对此，我将回答，
人民啊，在这里回答，以后还会回答，
我所爱的人们啊，难道我们不该一起回答吗？

——帕特里克·亨利·皮尔斯《愚人》

The Fool
Patrick Henry Pearse

Since the wise men have not spoken, I speak that am only a fool;
A fool that hath loved his folly,
Yea, more than the wise men their books or their counting houses or their quiet homes,
Or their fame in men’s mouths;
A fool that in all his days hath done never a prudent thing,
Never hath counted the cost, nor recked if another reaped
The fruit of his mighty sowing, content to scatter the seed;
A fool that is unrepentant, and that soon at the end of all
Shall laugh in his lonely heart as the ripe ears fall to the reaping-hooks
And the poor are filled that were empty,
Tho’ he go hungry.
I have squandered the splendid years that the Lord God gave to my youth
In attempting impossible things, deeming them alone worth the toil.

Was it folly or grace? Not men shall judge me, but God.
I have squandered the splendid years:
Lord, if I had the years I would squander them over again,
Aye, fling them from me !
For this I have heard in my heart, that a man shall scatter, not hoard,
Shall do the deed of to-day, nor take thought of to-morrow’s teen,
Shall not bargain or huxter with God ; or was it a jest of Christ’s
And is this my sin before men, to have taken Him at His word?
The lawyers have sat in council, the men with the keen, long faces,
And said, `This man is a fool,’ and others have said, `He blasphemeth;’
And the wise have pitied the fool that hath striven to give a life
In the world of time and space among the bulks of actual things,
To a dream that was dreamed in the heart, and that only the heart could hold.

O wise men, riddle me this: what if the dream come true?
What if the dream come true? and if millions unborn shall dwell
In the house that I shaped in my heart, the noble house of my thought?
Lord, I have staked my soul, I have staked the lives of my kin
On the truth of Thy dreadful word. Do not remember my failures,
But remember this my faith
And so I speak.
Yea, ere my hot youth pass, I speak to my people and say:
Ye shall be foolish as I; ye shall scatter, not save;
Ye shall venture your all, lest ye lose what is more than all;
Ye shall call for a miracle, taking Christ at His word.
And for this I will answer, O people, answer here and hereafter,
O people that I have loved, shall we not answer together?

精彩点评：
爱尔兰文学bot：自译投稿，来自@守矢哈德曼_Packie