I said unto myself, if I were dead,
What would befall these children? What would be
Their fate, who now are looking up to me
For help and furtherance? Their lives, I said,
Would be a volume wherein I have read
But the first chapters, and no longer see
To read the rest of their dear history,
So full of beauty and so full of dread.
Be comforted; the world is very old,
And generations pass, as they have passed,
A troop of shadows moving with the sun;
Thousands of times has the old tale been told;
The world belongs to those who come the last,
They will find hope and strength as we have done.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

http://www.poemhunter.com/

影子

我对自己说，假如我死去，

什么会降临给这些孩子？什么会是

他们的命运？它正在向我致敬

因为帮助和促进。他们的生命，

将会是一部我在读的书卷

但它最初的章节，已不复能见

看看他们剩下的亲切的历史，

充满美好，也充满恐惧。

令人宽慰；世界非常古老，

日换星移，他们已经逝去，

成群的影子随着太阳迁移；

古老的传说，诉说过千万遍；

这个世界属于最后的到来者，

他们会象我们一样发现，希望和力量。

2011.4.2