康可德颂诗
那跨越河水粗陋的桥旁,
旗帜迎着四月的微风飘扬,
在这里,农夫们坚立奋勇打仗,
全世界都听到射击的枪响。
仇敌早已经靜默长眠;
征服者也照样久睡安然;
倾圯的桥已经随时间冲去,
暗黑的河水向海流逝蜿蜒。
在这绿色岸边傍着靜流,
我们今天立下誓愿的石头;
以补赎记念他们的作为,
当我们的后代如先人不复存留。
使这些英雄奋起行动的精神,
敢於就死,让后代生而自由,
为他们和你建立的柱石祈求
愿时间和自然保守永垂不朽。
爱默生(Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882)是受尊敬的康可德(Concord)居民,也是当代最有盛名的美国诗人,哲学家。在美国独立战爭康可德之役六十週年,建立纪念碑,邀他作诗歌,以志盛典。
Hymn Sung at the Completion of
The Concord Monument, April 19, 1836
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
The flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On the green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, or leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882)