Elegy for a Dead Soldier

           by Karl Shapiro

I

A white sheet on the tail-gate of a truck
becomes an altar; two small candlesticks
sputter at each side of the crucifix
Laid round with flowers brighter than the blood,
Red as the red of our apocalypse,
Hibiscus that a marching man will pluck
To stick into his rifle or his hat,
And great blue morning-glories pale as lips
That shall no longer taste or kiss or swear.
The wind begins a low magnificat,
The chaplain chats, the palmtrees swirl their hair,
The columns come together through the mud

II

We too are ashes as we watch and hear
The psalm, the sorrow, and the simple praise
Of one whose promised thoughts of other days
Were such as ours, but now wholly destroyed,
The service record of his youth wiped out,
His dream dispersed by shot, must disappear.
What can we feel but wonder at a loss
That seems to point at nothing but the doubt
Which flirts our sense of luck into the ditch?
Reader of Paul who prays beside this fosse,
Shall we believe our eyes or legends rich
With glory and rebirth beyond the void?

III

For this comrade is dead, dead in the war,
A young man out of millions yet to live,
One cut away from all that war can give,
Freedom of self and peace to wander free.
Who mourns in all this sober multitude
Who did not feel the bite of it before
The bullet found its aim? This worthy flesh,
This boy laid in a coffin and reviewed－
Who has not wrapped himself in this same flag,
Heard the light fall of dirt, his wound still fresh,
Felt his eyes closed, and heard the distant brag
Of the last volley of humanity?

IV

By chance I saw him die, stretched on the ground,
A tattooed arm lifted to take the blood
Of someone else sealed in a tin. I stood
During the last delirium that stays
The intelligence a tiny moment more,
And then the strangulation, the last sound
The end was sudden, like a foolish play,
A stupid fool slamming a foolish door,
The absurd catastrophe, half-prearranged,
And all the decisive things still left to say.
So we disbanded, angrier and unchanged,
Sick with the utter silence of dispraise.

V

We ask for no statistics of the killed,
For nothing political impinges on
This single casualty, or all those gone,
Missing or healing, sinking or dispersed,
Hundreds of thousands counted, millions lost.
More than an accident and less than willed
Is every fall, and this one like the rest.
However others calculate the cost,
To us the final aggregate is one,
One with a name, one transferred to the blest;
And though another stoops and takes the gun,
We cannot add the second to the first.

XI

The time to mourn is short that best becomes
The military dead. We lift and fold the flag,
Lay bare the coffin with its written tag,
And march away. Behind, four others wait
To lift the box, the heaviest of loads.
The anesthetic afternoon benumbs,
Sickens our senses, forces back our talk.
We know that others on tomorrow's roads
Will fall, ourselves perhaps, the man beside,
Over the world the threatened, all who walk:
And could we mark the grave of him who died
We would write this beneath his name and date:

Epitaph
Underneath this wooden cross there lies
A Christian killed in battle. You who read,
Remember that this stranger died in pain;
And passing here, if you can lift your eyes
Upon a peace kept by a human creed,
Know that one soldier has not died in vain.

為一名士兵唱的挽歌

      卡爾?夏皮羅

一
一輛卡車(chē)的后檔板覆蓋著一塊白布，
權(quán)充祭壇；兩支蠟燭
畢剝?nèi)荚谑旨軆膳?BR>四周撤滿花朵，比血色更鮮，
比我們的啓示錄更紅，
木槿花，一個(gè)行軍者會(huì)把它摘下
插在步槍或帽子上；
大大的藍(lán)色牽牛花，顔色蒼白
像不能再品味、接吻或發(fā)誓的嘴唇。
風(fēng)兒開(kāi)始低聲唱起頌主詩(shī)歌，
牧師說(shuō)著話，棕?cái)R樹(shù)旋動(dòng)自己的頭發(fā)，
一支支隊(duì)伍踏過(guò)泥濘來(lái)此匯攏。

二
我們也是灰燼，當(dāng)我們觀看和聆聽(tīng)
圣歌、悲哀和樸素的贊詞
獻(xiàn)給一個(gè)人，他對(duì)未來(lái)的憧憬
與我們一樣，但如今已完全破滅，
他用青春譜寫(xiě)的服役履歷一筆了清，
他的美夢(mèng)被槍聲驅(qū)散，毫無(wú)蹤影。
我們能感到的只是對(duì)陣亡的震驚，
它似乎恰恰表明懷疑，
而疑慮把我們的僥幸之心扔進(jìn)溝渠。
站在這壕坑邊祈禱的保羅的讀經(jīng)師，
我們?cè)撓嘈抛约旱难劬δ兀€是相信
虛空之外敍述榮耀和新生的傳奇？

三
因爲(wèi)這位戰(zhàn)友已經(jīng)死了，在戰(zhàn)火中死去，
一個(gè)年輕人，他的千百萬(wàn)同齡人仍然活著，
這個(gè)人脫離了戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)所給予的一切，
自由自在，飄飄悠悠。
誰(shuí)在這肅穆的人群中哀悼亡靈
這些人在子彈射中目標(biāo)以前
并不感到痛切?這可敬的血肉之軀，
這小伙子躺在棺材中沈思──
有誰(shuí)尚未用同樣的旗幟包裹自己，
聽(tīng)見(jiàn)塵土輕輕落下，傷口仍在流血，
感到雙眼緊閉，聽(tīng)到遠(yuǎn)處傳來(lái)
人間最后一陣炮火齊鳴？

四
我碰巧目睹他死去，四肢伸展仰臥在地，
刺有花紋的手臂拾起
接受另一個(gè)人的血從封罐注入他身體。我站立
眼看臨終前的神志昏迷
讓他的靈魂再?gòu)浟粢粫r(shí)半刻，
接著呼吸停止，發(fā)出最后一聲喘息。
生命的結(jié)束如此突然，就像一出荒誕的戲，
一個(gè)傻子砰地關(guān)上－扇可笑的門(mén)，
荒謬的結(jié)局，仿佛預(yù)先排定，
所有關(guān)鍵性的臺(tái)詞尚待說(shuō)及。
于是我們解散，沒(méi)有變化，更加憤怒，
對(duì)無(wú)人譴責(zé)一片沈寂感到惡心。

五
我們不要陣亡人數(shù)統(tǒng)計(jì)，
因爲(wèi)這些沒(méi)有任何政治意義：
這一陣亡者或一切陣亡者，
失蹤或養(yǎng)傷，倒下或潰退，
幾十萬(wàn)人記錄在冊(cè)，幾百萬(wàn)人毫無(wú)消息。
與其說(shuō)出于自愿，不如說(shuō)是偶然事故
造成每一例陣亡，這一戰(zhàn)死者與其它戰(zhàn)死者一樣。
不論別人怎樣計(jì)算付出的代價(jià)，
對(duì)我們而言最終歸結(jié)爲(wèi)一，
一個(gè)有名有姓的人，一個(gè)被送進(jìn)天堂的人；
雖然另一人俯身拿起槍?zhuān)?BR>我們不能將第二人加到第一人身上。

六
哀悼的時(shí)間短促，這最適合于
犧牲的軍人。我們揭去旗，將它折起，
讓帶著標(biāo)簽的棺木裸現(xiàn)，
我們緩緩走開(kāi)。在我們身后，另四個(gè)人等著
擡起靈柩，最沉重的負(fù)載。
沈悶的下午令人生厭，
使我們感官麻木，欲語(yǔ)還休。
我們知道在明天的征途上
其它的人將倒下，也許是我們自己，身旁的人
全世界受到威脅的人，一切行進(jìn)的人：
倘若我們能爲(wèi)這一死者立碑，
我們將在他的名字和死期下書(shū)寫(xiě)：

墓志銘
在這本質(zhì)十字架下安臥著
一個(gè)戰(zhàn)死的基督徒。請(qǐng)你記住，
這陌生人在痛苦中死去；
當(dāng)你路過(guò)此地，放眼看看
由人類(lèi)教義維護(hù)的和平景象？
你便懂得一名士兵并沒(méi)有枉然捐軀。

卡爾?夏皮羅 簡(jiǎn)介

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