悼

一切是那么的遥远

一切是那么的久远

我想， 那颗在我头顶闪烁的星星

已经死去了一百万年

我仿佛看到，在刚刚经过的车里

有泪珠滑过脸庞 - 有人说了可怕的事

我听到 远处的房子里面 有钟声响起

但是到底是哪一座呢？

我想要从我的心里走出去

到广袤的天空下去散步

我想要祈祷，

在所有已经消亡的星星当中 一定

还有一颗依然存活

我想我知道， 那是哪一颗

那颗星， 在天空之中 它自己光束的尽头

巍然屹立 如一座白色的城

～～～～～～～～

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke 

Edited and Translated by Stephen Mitchell

FROM 

The Book of Pictures (1902 ;1906)

Lament 

Everything is far 

and long gone by. 

I think that the star 

glittering above me 

has been dead for a million years. 

I think there were tears 

in the car I heard pass 

and something terrible was said. 

A clock has stopped striking in the house 

across the road... 

When did it start?... 

I would like to step out of my heart 

an go walking beneath the enormous sky. 

I would like to pray. 

And surely of all the stars that perished 

long ago, 

one still exists. 

I think that I know 

which one it is-- 

which one, at the end of its beam in the sky, 

stands like a white city...