meditation

russell green

i saw the stars against the summer night
still trembling as they trembled when the light
first fell upon them from the further world.
i could not bend my proud humanity
to kneel before the cold immensity,
i,who had youth and love,i,who could know,——
they,——flotsam on the ethereal ebb and flow,
dead things unmoved by immaterial fire
of hope and anguish and divine desire.
they were not more omnipotent than i,
they could not see and dream and change and die.
i could not bow before infinity,
the silent grandeur could not conquer me.

默想

羅素·格林

我看見夏夜的星星，閃閃發亮，
似乎遙遠的空際，
為他們送來第一縷靈光。
我不會拋棄人性的尊嚴，
去膜拜那不盡的冰涼，
我擁有愛和青春，還有求知的能量；
而他們是毫無生氣的殘渣，
漂浮于潮汐翻卷的波浪，
缺少精神之火，哪有苦悶和神圣的期 望。

他們不如我全知全能，
他們不見、不變、無夢、沒有死亡。
我不能對無窮無盡低頭彎腰，
我不會屈服于沉寂的堂皇。