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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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