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ballads-第11部分

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Where never a stranger came;

On the awful lips of the dead;

He heard the outlandish name。

It sang in his sleeping ears;

It hummed in his waking head:

The name … Ticonderoga;

The utterance of the dead。





I。 THE SAYING OF THE NAME





ON the loch…sides of Appin;

When the mist blew from the sea;

A Stewart stood with a Cameron:

An angry man was he。

The blood beat in his ears;

The blood ran hot to his head;

The mist blew from the sea;

And there was the Cameron dead。

〃O; what have I done to my friend;

O; what have I done to mysel';

That he should be cold and dead;

And I in the danger of all?



Nothing but danger about me;

Danger behind and before;

Death at wait in the heather

In Appin and Mamore;

Hate at all of the ferries

And death at each of the fords;

Camerons priming gunlocks

And Camerons sharpening swords。〃



But this was a man of counsel;

This was a man of a score;

There dwelt no pawkier Stewart

In Appin or Mamore。

He looked on the blowing mist;

He looked on the awful dead;

And there came a smile on his face

And there slipped a thought in his head。



Out over cairn and moss;

Out over scrog and scaur;

He ran as runs the clansman

That bears the cross of war。

His heart beat in his body;

His hair clove to his face;

When he came at last in the gloaming

To the dead man's brother's place。

The east was white with the moon;

The west with the sun was red;

And there; in the house…doorway;

Stood the brother of the dead。



〃I have slain a man to my danger;

I have slain a man to my death。

I put my soul in your hands;〃

The panting Stewart saith。

〃I lay it bare in your hands;

For I know your hands are leal;

And be you my targe and bulwark

From the bullet and the steel。〃



Then up and spoke the Cameron;

And gave him his hand again:

〃There shall never a man in Scotland

Set faith in me in vain;

And whatever man you have slaughtered;

Of whatever name or line;

By my sword and yonder mountain;

I make your quarrel mine。 (1)

I bid you in to my fireside;

I share with you house and hall;

It stands upon my honour

To see you safe from all。〃



It fell in the time of midnight;

When the fox barked in the den

And the plaids were over the faces

In all the houses of men;

That as the living Cameron

Lay sleepless on his bed;

Out of the night and the other world;

Came in to him the dead。



〃My blood is on the heather;

My bones are on the hill;

There is joy in the home of ravens

That the young shall eat their fill。

My blood is poured in the dust;

My soul is spilled in the air;

And the man that has undone me

Sleeps in my brother's care。〃



〃I'm wae for your death; my brother;

But if all of my house were dead;

I couldnae withdraw the plighted hand;

Nor break the word once said。〃



〃O; what shall I say to our father;

In the place to which I fare?

O; what shall I say to our mother;

Who greets to see me there?

And to all the kindly Camerons

That have lived and died long…syne …

Is this the word you send them;

Fause…hearted brother mine?〃



〃It's neither fear nor duty;

It's neither quick nor dead

Shall gar me withdraw the plighted hand;

Or break the word once said。〃



Thrice in the time of midnight;

When the fox barked in the den;

And the plaids were over the faces

In all the houses of men;

Thrice as the living Cameron

Lay sleepless on his bed;

Out of the night and the other world

Came in to him the dead;

And cried to him for vengeance

On the man that laid him low;

And thrice the living Cameron

Told the dead Cameron; no。



〃Thrice have you seen me; brother;

But now shall see me no more;

Till you meet your angry fathers

Upon the farther shore。

Thrice have I spoken; and now;

Before the cock be heard;

I take my leave for ever

With the naming of a word。

It shall sing in your sleeping ears;

It shall hum in your waking head;

The name … Ticonderoga;

And the warning of the dead。〃



Now when the night was over

And the time of people's fears;

The Cameron walked abroad;

And the word was in his ears。

〃Many a name I know;

But never a name like this;

O; where shall I find a skilly man

Shall tell me what it is?〃

With many a man he counselled

Of high and low degree;

With the herdsmen on the mountains

And the fishers of the sea。

And he came and went unweary;

And read the books of yore;

And the runes that were written of old

On stones upon the moor。

And many a name he was told;

But never the name of his fears …

Never; in east or west;

The name that rang in his ears:

Names of men and of clans;

Names for the grass and the tree;

For the smallest tarn in the mountains;

The smallest reef in the sea:

Names for the high and low;

The names of the craig and the flat;

But in all the land of Scotland;

Never a name like that。





II。 THE SEEKING OF THE NAME





AND now there was speech in the south;

And a man of the south that was wise;

A periwig'd lord of London; (2)

Called on the clans to rise。

And the riders rode; and the summons

Came to the western shore;

To the land of the sea and the heather;

To Appin and Mamore。

It called on all to gather

From every scrog and scaur;

That loved their fathers' tartan

And the ancient game of war。



And down the watery valley

And up the windy hill;

Once more; as in the olden;

The pipes were sounding shrill;

Again in highland sunshine

The naked steel was bright;

And the lads; once more in tartan

Went forth again to fight。



〃O; why should I dwell here

With a weird upon my life;

When the clansmen shout for battle

And the war…swords clash in strife?

I cannae joy at feast;

I cannae sleep in bed;

For the wonder of the word

And the warning of the dead。

It sings in my sleeping ears;

It hums in my waking head;

The name … Ticonderoga;

The utterance of the dead。

Then up; and with the fighting men

To march away from here;

Till the cry of the great war…pipe

Shall drown it in my ear!〃



Where flew King George's ensign

The plaided soldiers went:

They drew the sword in Germany;

In Flanders pitched the tent。

The bells of foreign cities

Rang far across the plain:

They passed the happy Rhine;

They drank the rapid Main。

Through Asiatic jungles

The Tartans filed their way;

And the neighing of the war…pipes

Struck terror in Cathay。 (3)



〃Many a name have I heard;〃 he thought;

〃In all the tongues of men;

Full many a name both here and there。

Full many both now and then。

When I was at home in my father's house

In the land of the naked knee;

Between the eagles that fly in the lift

And the herrings that swim in the sea;

And now that I am a captain…man

With a braw cockade in my hat …

Many a name have I heard;〃 he thought;

〃But never a name like that。〃





III。 THE PLACE OF THE NAME





THERE fell a war
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