Thom Gunn - Innocence (For Tony White) 汉译

He ran the course and as he ran he grew,

And smelt his fragrance in the field. Already,

Running he knew the most he ever knew,

The egotism of a healthy body.

 

Run into manhood, ignorant of the past:

Culture of guilt and guilt’s vague heritage,

Self-pity and the soul; what he possessed

Was rich, potential, like the bud’s tipped rage.

 

The corps developed, it was plain to see,

Courage, endurance, loyalty and skill

To a morale firm as morality,

Hardening him to an instrument, until

 

The finitude of virtues that were there

Bodied within the swarthy uniform

A compact innocence, child-like and clear,

No doubt could penetrate, no act could harm.

 

When he stood near the Russian partisan

Being hundred alive, he therefore could behold

The ribs wear gently through the darkening skin

And sicken only at the Northern cold,

 

Could watch the fat burn with a violet flame

And feel disgusted only at the smell,

And judge that all pain finished the same

As melting quietly by his boots it fell.

 

                                                               1961