文天祥·《过零丁洋》英译

Crossing the Lonely Ocean¹

Wen Tianxiang

Through painstaking mastery of one

Of the Classics, I have risen high;

But four years of raging war have well-nigh

Brought all-round destitution and ruin.

My shattered country does remind

Me of willow-catkins swept by wind;

My life’s vicissitudes attain

The aspect of duckweeds beaten by rain.

At th’ Frightful Shallows² we fought our way,

They’d tell the frightful battle never won,

And on the Lonely Ocean I could but sigh

For being captured, and all alone.

Down through the ages, whoever that lived

Has not in death ended his life?

I wish to leave but a loyal heart

Shining red in History’s archive.

1. The Lonely Ocean is part of China’s South Sea to the south of what is now the Zhongshan County, Guangdong Province. Song Reizong’s Prime Minister Wen Tianxiang (1236-1282), at the end of the dynasty, after being captured by the Yuan Army, was sent under guard aboard a ship to the conquerors’ capital Yanjing (now Beijing) in 1278. He was imprisoned for more than three years and executed in 1282, unyielding to the last. Wen is one of the most revered national heroes in Chinese history.

2. The Frightful Shallows is in Jiangxi Province. It is one of 18 dangerous shallows in the most torrential part of the Gan River. In 1277 Wen was defeated by the Yuan Army there, whence he evacuated to Fujian Province and was later captured.

（王知还 译）