第3章 THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE 约翰·莫尔爵士的葬礼

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,

As his corpse to the ramparts we hurried;

Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot

O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

We buried him darkly at dead of night,

The sods with our bayonets turning;

By the struggling moonbeam's misty light,

And the lantern dimly burning.

No useless coffin enclosed his breast,

Not in sheet nor in shroud we wound him;

But he lay like a warrior taking his rest

With his martial cloak around him.

Few and short were the prayers we said,

And we spoke not a word of sorrow

But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead,

And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed,

And smoothed down his lonely pillow,

That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,

And we far away on the billow!

Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,

And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him;

But little he'll reck if they let him sleep on

In the grave where a Briton has laid him!

But half of our heavy task was done

When the clock struck the hour for retiring;

And we heard the distant and random gun

That the foe was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame fresh and gory:

We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone —

But we left him alone with his glory.

— Charles Wolfe (1791-1823).

没有打鼓，也没有哀乐，

当我们把它的尸体运到城堡，

在我们的英雄埋葬者的墓上，

也没有一名士兵鸣放礼炮。

我们埋葬他在悄悄的夜晚，

使用我们的刺刀在土中翻；

靠着雾中露出的朦胧月光，

还有些闪着光的暗淡灯火。

包藏它的胸坎没有无用的棺，

也没有寿衣寿布把他裹缠；

但他躺着正如一名战士，

穿着他的军服和衣而眠。

祈祷的话语人少而语短，

我们所说的没有一句哀婉；

我们坚定凝视着死者的面庞，

只沉痛地在想到明天。

当我们掘着他狭窄的墓坑，

我们把他头上的土块放平，

我们想到未知的敌人回来蹂躏他的头颅，

而我们已经在海上航行！

敌兵会轻蔑这阵亡了的将军，

会在他的尸骇上议论纵横；

但只要他们让他安睡在墓中，

所埋葬的英国人，他会泰然不问。

但我们的埋葬工作只到一半，

时钟已报道着撤退的时间；

我们也听到远远的散乱炮声，

敌人在向我们乱放子弹。

悲伤地让他徐徐躺下，

浑身还带着荣誉阵地的血花；

我们没写一行字，没立一块碑，

但只让他的光荣永远伴着他。

——查尔斯·沃尔夫（1791-1823）