The Chimney Sweeper 扫烟囱孩子
--William Blake --威廉.布莱克
The Chimney Sweeper is the title of two poems by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794.In the earlier poem, a young chimney sweeper recounts a dream had by one of his fellows, in which an angel rescues the boys from coffins and takes them to a sunny meadow; in the later poem, an apparently adult speaker encounters a child chimney sweeper abandoned in the snow while his parents are at church.
When my mother died I was very young, 我母亲死的时候,我还小得很,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue 我父亲把我拿出来卖给了别人,
Could scarcely cry ’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep! 我当时还不大喊得清,“扫呀——扫!”
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep. 我就扫你们烟囱,裹煤屑睡觉。
There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, 有个小托姆,头发卷得像小羊头,
That curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved: so I said, 剃光的时候,哭得好伤心,好难受,
"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head’s bare, 我就说:“小托姆,不要紧,光了脑袋,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair." 打起来煤屑就不会糟踏你白头发。”
And so he was quiet; and that very night, 他就安安静静了,当天夜里,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight, - 托姆睡着了,事情就来得稀奇,
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, 他看见千千万万的扫烟囱小孩
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. 阿猫阿狗全都给锁进了黑棺材。
And by came an angel who had a bright key, 后来来了个天使,拿了把金钥匙,
And he opened the coffins and set them all free; 开棺材放出了孩子们(真是好天使!)
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, 他们就边跳,边笑,边跑过草坪,
And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. 到河里洗了澡,太阳里晒得亮晶晶。
Then naked and white, all their bags left behind, 光光的,白白的,把袋子都抛个一,
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind; 他们就升上了云端,在风里游戏;
And the angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy, “只要你做个好孩子,”天使对托姆说,
He’d have God for his father, and never want joy. “上帝会做你的父亲,你永远快乐。”
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark, 托姆就醒了;屋子里黑咕隆咚,
And got with our bags and our brushes to work. 我们就起来拿袋子、扫帚去做工。
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; 大清早尽管冷,托姆的心里可温暖;
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm. 这叫做:各尽本分,就不怕灾难。