阿佛烈·丁尼生（1809年8月6日－1892年10月6日），英國19世紀的著名詩人，在世時就獲得了極高的聲譽。生於英國林肯郡，出身牧師家庭，兄弟均有詩才。肄業於劍橋大學，詩作題材廣泛，想像豐富，形式完美，詞藻綺麗，音調鏗鏘。其131首的組詩《悼念》被視爲英國文學史上最優秀哀歌之一，因而獲桂冠詩人稱號。其他重要詩作有《尤利西斯》、《伊諾克·阿登》、《過沙洲》、《悼念集》等。他深受維多利亞女王的賞識，於1850年獲得了桂冠詩人的稱號，後來又在1884年被封爲男爵。

尤利西斯

丁尼生

閒散的國王與事無益，

爐火燃盡，亂石嶙峋，家有老妻

我整治野蠻的民族，胡亂頒布些法律

看他們蝸居一隅，只知吃睡，不知有我。

我不能停下脚步，我要滿飲生命之杯。

多少年來，或摯友相佐，或孤身一人

在雨意闌珊的岸邊，在光影明滅的海上

亦曾大悲，亦曾大喜。

我的名字家喻戶曉

誰都知道

我壯懷激烈，漂泊不已。

多少年來，我閱盡天下

風土人情，陰晴圓缺，貴人達官，州縣城池

在遙遠的特洛伊，風聲烈烈

我與戰友壯志饑餐，笑談渴飲，博得大名。

一身幾曾功成名就，世情幾曾頻轉衰歇

門外是未曾游歷的世界，

隨著我的脚步前後閃爍

舉步不前令人沉悶，萬事全休令人氣餒

莫讓刀劍在鞘中生銹，當在揮舞中燁燁生光。

誰道生命只是呼吸，誰信生命輪回不已

而我此生已去日無多。

在永恒的沉默降臨之前

時光如箭，每時每刻，

再多些新鮮, 再多些體驗。

三年來星移斗換，

三年來飛雪滿鬢，塵霜滿面

但我蒼白的心靈充滿渴望

渴求知識像西墜的星辰，

追求人類思想也難抵達的遠方。

這是我親生的兒子

我爲他留下島國與權杖。

他爲我所愛，遠見卓識

他會在我去後

接過我的事業

耐心謹慎，有理有節，教化粗野的民族

讓他們變得溫順而有用。

他萬事有節有制，一身正氣無邪，

公事處置得當，牧民充滿善心。

然而，他有他的事業，我有我的夢想。

海港正在等待，船隻已經揚帆，

大海沉鬱幽暗。

我的水手們，曾與我同辛勞，共患難

我們思想一致，休戚相關。

我們用自由的胸懷與頭顱，

迎接陽光，抗爭雷電。

我們都老了

但老年有老年的榮光，和老年的磨難。

死亡會終結一切，但在這之前

還有崇高的事業要去完成

還要與諸神一番征戰。

礁石上光影閃爍

長日將盡，月亮初上

大海在低沉地呼喚。

來吧朋友

探尋更新世界

現在幷不爲晚

開船！舉首穩坐

衝破喧囂的海浪

向著西沉的太陽，駛過滿天星光

至死不息。

我們也許會葬身海浪

我們更會駐足歡樂的遠方

和偉大的朋友歡聚一堂。

我們曾經走遍天涯

我們曾經動地驚天

雖然我們的力氣已不復當年，不復當年

但我們雄心仍在。

雖然時光流逝，命運多舛

我們依然意志卓絕

依然奮鬥，追求，發現，絕不停歇。

【附原詩】 Ulysses

Alfred Lord Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honoured of them all;

And drunk delight of battle with my peers;

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough

Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!

As though to breath were life. Life piled on life

Were all to little, and of one to me

Little remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the scepter and the isle

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and through soft degrees

Subdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods,

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:

There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads you and I are old;

Old age had yet his honour and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in the old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,

One equal-temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

【譯後記】大年初一不吃餃子，熱了一碗鶏湯。這碗鶏湯的厨子是英國的丁尼生，講的是尤利西斯國王年老體衰却不安於室的故事。原詩沒什麽佐料（素體詩），是老國王一個人的嘮叨。我昨晚感冒發燒，有些亢奮，居然譯成鏗鏘有力的音調。但有馮唐翻譯的飛鳥集在前，怎麽翻譯都還算著調吧。每個人都是自己生命的君王，自己决定自己如何度過一生。我輩已緩緩走向衰老，新舊交替之時，喝下這碗鶏湯，接著往前走吧。