1
Over the Western sea hither from Niphon come,
Courteous2, the swart-cheek'd two-sworded envoys3,
Leaning back in their open barouches, bare-headed, impassive,
Ride to-day through Manhattan.
Libertad! I do not know whether others behold4 what I behold,
In the procession along with the nobles of Niphon, the errand-bearers,
Bringing up the rear, hovering5 above, around, or in the ranks marching,
But I will sing you a song of what I behold Libertad.
When million-footed Manhattan unpent descends7 to her pavements,
When the thunder-cracking guns arouse me with the proud roar love,
When the round-mouth'd guns out of the smoke and smell I love
spit their salutes8,
When the fire-flashing guns have fully9 alerted me, and
heaven-clouds canopy10 my city with a delicate thin haze11,
When gorgeous the countless12 straight stems, the forests at the
wharves13, thicken with colors,
When every ship richly drest carries her flag at the peak,
When pennants14 trail and street-festoons hang from the windows,
When Broadway is entirely15 given up to foot-passengers and
foot-standers, when the mass is densest16,
When the facades17 of the houses are alive with people, when eyes
gaze riveted18 tens of thousands at a time,
When the guests from the islands advance, when the pageant moves
forward visible,
When the summons is made, when the answer that waited thousands
of years answers,
I too arising, answering, descend6 to the pavements, merge19 with the
crowd, and gaze with them.
2
Superb-faced Manhattan!
Comrade Americanos! to us, then at last the Orient comes.
To us, my city,
Where our tall-topt marble and iron beauties range on opposite
sides, to walk in the space between,
To-day our Antipodes comes.
The Originatress comes,
The nest of languages, the bequeather of poems, the race of eld,
Florid with blood, pensive20, rapt with musings, hot with passion,
Sultry with perfume, with ample and flowing garments,
With sunburnt visage, with intense soul and glittering eyes,
The race of Brahma comes.
See my cantabile! these and more are flashing to us from the procession,
As it moves changing, a kaleidoscope divine it moves changing before us.
For not the envoys nor the tann'd Japanee from his island only,
Lithe21 and silent the Hindoo appears, the Asiatic continent itself
appears, the past, the dead,
The murky22 night-morning of wonder and fable23 inscrutable,
The envelop'd mysteries, the old and unknown hive-bees,
The north, the sweltering south, eastern Assyria, the Hebrews, the
ancient of ancients,
Vast desolated24 cities, the gliding25 present, all of these and more
are in the pageant-procession.
Geography, the world, is in it,
The Great Sea, the brood of islands, Polynesia, the coast beyond,
The coast you henceforth are facing—you Libertad! from your Western
golden shores,
The countries there with their populations, the millions en-masse
are curiously27 here,
The swarming28 market-places, the temples with idols29 ranged along the
sides or at the end, bonze, brahmin, and llama,
Mandarin30, farmer, merchant, mechanic, and fisherman,
The singing-girl and the dancing-girl, the ecstatic persons, the
secluded31 emperors,
Confucius himself, the great poets and heroes, the warriors32, the castes,
all,
Trooping up, crowding from all directions, from the Altay mountains,
From Thibet, from the four winding33 and far-flowing rivers of China,
From the southern peninsulas and the demi-continental islands, from
Malaysia,
These and whatever belongs to them palpable show forth26 to me, and
are seiz'd by me,
And I am seiz'd by them, and friendlily held by them,
Till as here them all I chant, Libertad! for themselves and for you.
For I too raising my voice join the ranks of this pageant,
I am the chanter, I chant aloud over the pageant,
I chant the world on my Western sea,
I chant copious34 the islands beyond, thick as stars in the sky,
I chant the new empire grander than any before, as in a vision it
comes to me,
I chant America the mistress, I chant a greater supremacy35,
I chant projected a thousand blooming cities yet in time on those
groups of sea-islands,
My sail-ships and steam-ships threading the archipelagoes,
My stars and stripes fluttering in the wind,
Commerce opening, the sleep of ages having done its work, races
reborn, refresh'd,
Lives, works resumed—the object I know not—but the old, the Asiatic
renew'd as it must be,
Commencing from this day surrounded by the world.
3
And you Libertad of the world!
You shall sit in the middle well-pois'd thousands and thousands of years,
As to-day from one side the nobles of Asia come to you,
As to-morrow from the other side the queen of England sends her
eldest36 son to you.
The sign is reversing, the orb37 is enclosed,
The ring is circled, the journey is done,
The box-lid is but perceptibly open'd, nevertheless the perfume
pours copiously38 out of the whole box.
Young Libertad! with the venerable Asia, the all-mother,
Be considerate with her now and ever hot Libertad, for you are all,
Bend your proud neck to the long-off mother now sending messages
over the archipelagoes to you,
Bend your proud neck low for once, young Libertad.
Here the children straying westward39 so long? so wide the tramping?
Were the precedent40 dim ages debouching westward from Paradise so long?
Were the centuries steadily41 footing it that way, all the while
unknown, for you, for reasons?
They are justified42, they are accomplish'd, they shall now be turn'd
the other way also, to travel toward you thence,
They shall now also march obediently eastward43 for your sake Libertad.
点击收听单词发音
1 pageant | |
n.壮观的游行;露天历史剧 | |
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2 courteous | |
adj.彬彬有礼的,客气的 | |
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3 envoys | |
使节( envoy的名词复数 ); 公使; 谈判代表; 使节身份 | |
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4 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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5 hovering | |
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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6 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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7 descends | |
v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 );下去;下降;下斜 | |
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8 salutes | |
n.致敬,欢迎,敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎,致敬( salute的第三人称单数 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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9 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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10 canopy | |
n.天篷,遮篷 | |
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11 haze | |
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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12 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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13 wharves | |
n.码头,停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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14 pennants | |
n.校旗( pennant的名词复数 );锦标旗;长三角旗;信号旗 | |
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15 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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16 densest | |
密集的( dense的最高级 ); 密度大的; 愚笨的; (信息量大得)难理解的 | |
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17 facades | |
n.(房屋的)正面( facade的名词复数 );假象,外观 | |
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18 riveted | |
铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 ); 把…固定住; 吸引; 引起某人的注意 | |
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19 merge | |
v.(使)结合,(使)合并,(使)合为一体 | |
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20 pensive | |
a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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21 lithe | |
adj.(指人、身体)柔软的,易弯的 | |
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22 murky | |
adj.黑暗的,朦胧的;adv.阴暗地,混浊地;n.阴暗;昏暗 | |
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23 fable | |
n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
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24 desolated | |
adj.荒凉的,荒废的 | |
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25 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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26 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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27 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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28 swarming | |
密集( swarm的现在分词 ); 云集; 成群地移动; 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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29 idols | |
偶像( idol的名词复数 ); 受崇拜的人或物; 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物; 神像 | |
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30 Mandarin | |
n.中国官话,国语,满清官吏;adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
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31 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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32 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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33 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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34 copious | |
adj.丰富的,大量的 | |
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35 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
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36 eldest | |
adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
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37 orb | |
n.太阳;星球;v.弄圆;成球形 | |
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38 copiously | |
adv.丰富地,充裕地 | |
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39 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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40 precedent | |
n.先例,前例;惯例;adj.在前的,在先的 | |
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41 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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42 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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43 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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