Where is there an end of it, the soundless wailing,
這無聲的嗚咽,這秋花的悄然謝去,
The silent withering of autumn flowers dropping their petals and remaining motionless;
花瓣飄落從此凝然不動,它們的終極在哪里?沉船的殘骸隨波漂泊,白骨在岸灘上祈求,
Where is there an end to the drifting wreckage,
那向宣布災難臨頭的通告
The prayer of the bone on the beach,
發出無從祈求的祈求,
the unprayable prayer at the calamitous annunciation?
這一切的終極在哪里?
There is no end, but addition:
一切了無終極,不禁如此更有那
the trailing consequence of further days and hours,
隨未來的時日而接觸而來的后果,
While emotion takes to itself the emotionless years of living among the breakage
當人生的無情歲月已落入你一度以為
Of what was believed in as the most reliable —
最可信賴的事物的碎片之中——
And therefore the fittest for renunciation.
因而最恰當的對策莫如舍棄的時候,

There is the final addition,
感情卻兀自沉湎于往昔。
the failing pride or resentment at failing powers,
最后還有出于對自己的氣力不濟
The unattached devotion which might pass for devotionless,
而產生無濟于事的自豪和怨恨;
In a drifting boat with a slow leakage,
駕一葉小舟漂泊海上,任憑海水從裂隙徐徐漏入,
The silent listening to the undeniable clamour of the bell of the last annunciation.
那無所依附的眷戀可能被看作無所眷戀;還有那最后的通告的鐘聲發出不可爭辯的呼喊時
Where is the end of them,
默默無語的諦聽。
the fishermen sailing into the wind's tail, where the fog cowers?
何處是漁夫的歸宿,他們駛進風的尾勢,霧靄在那里瑟瑟顫抖?
We cannot think of a time that is oceanless
我們無法想象一個沒有海洋的時代
Or of an ocean not littered with wastage
或者一個不是漂滿了廢物的海洋,
Or of a future that is not liable like the past, to have no destination.
或者一個不可能有一個目的地的未來,像過去的歲月那樣。