Robert Frost - The Bearer of Evil Tidings 汉译

The bearer of evil tidings,  

When he was halfway there, 

Remembered that evil tidings 

Were a dangerous thing to bear. 

So when he came to the parting 

Where one road led to the throne 

And one went off to the mountains 

And into the wild unknown, 

He took the one to the mountains. 

He ran through the Vale of Cashmere, 

He ran through the rhododendrons 

Till he came to land of Pamir. 

And there in a precipice valley 

A girl of his age he met 

Took him home to her bower, 

Or he might be running yet. 

She taught him her tribe's religion: 

How ages and ages since 

A princess en route to China 

To marry a Persian prince 

Had been found with child; and her army 

Had come to a troubled halt. 

And though a god was the father 

And nobody else at fault, 

It had seemed discreet to remain there 

And neither go on nor back. 

So they stayed and declared a village 

There in the land of the Yak. 

And the child that came of the princess 

Established a royal line, 

And his mandates were given heed to 

Because he was born divine. 

And that was why there were people 

On one Himalayan shelf; 

And the bearer of evil tidings 

Decided to stay there himself. 

At least he had this in common 

With the race he chose to adopt: 

They had both of them had their reasons 

For stopping where they had stopped. 

As for evil tidings, 

Belshazzar's overthrow, 

Why hurry to tell Belshazzar 

What soon enough he would know?