1
I wander all night in my vision,
Stepping with light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping,
Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers,
Wandering and confused, lost to myself, ill-assorted, contradictory2,
Pausing, gazing, bending, and stopping.
How solemn they look there, stretch'd and still,
How quiet they breathe, the little children in their cradles.
The wretched features of ennuyes, the white features of corpses3, the
livid faces of drunkards, the sick-gray faces of onanists,
The gash'd bodies on battle-fields, the insane in their
strong-door'd rooms, the sacred idiots, the new-born emerging
from gates, and the dying emerging from gates,
The night pervades6 them and infolds them.
The married couple sleep calmly in their bed, he with his palm on
the hip7 of the wife, and she with her palm on the hip of the husband,
The sisters sleep lovingly side by side in their bed,
The men sleep lovingly side by side in theirs,
And the mother sleeps with her little child carefully wrapt.
The blind sleep, and the deaf and dumb sleep,
The prisoner sleeps well in the prison, the runaway8 son sleeps,
The murderer that is to be hung next day, how does he sleep?
And the murder'd person, how does he sleep?
The female that loves unrequited sleeps,
And the male that loves unrequited sleeps,
The head of the money-maker that plotted all day sleeps,
And the enraged9 and treacherous10 dispositions11, all, all sleep.
I stand in the dark with drooping12 eyes by the worst-suffering and
the most restless,
I pass my hands soothingly13 to and fro a few inches from them,
The restless sink in their beds, they fitfully sleep.
Now I pierce the darkness, new beings appear,
The earth recedes14 from me into the night,
I saw that it was beautiful, and I see that what is not the earth is
beautiful.
I go from bedside to bedside, I sleep close with the other sleepers
each in turn,
I dream in my dream all the dreams of the other dreamers,
And I become the other dreamers.
I am a dance—play up there! the fit is whirling me fast!
I am the ever-laughing—it is new moon and twilight15,
I see the hiding of douceurs, I see nimble ghosts whichever way look,
Cache and cache again deep in the ground and sea, and where it is
neither ground nor sea.
Well do they do their jobs those journeymen divine,
Only from me can they hide nothing, and would not if they could,
I reckon I am their boss and they make me a pet besides,
And surround me and lead me and run ahead when I walk,
To lift their cunning covers to signify me with stretch'd arms, and
resume the way;
Onward16 we move, a gay gang of blackguards! with mirth-shouting
music and wild-flapping pennants17 of joy!
I am the actor, the actress, the voter, the politician,
The emigrant18 and the exile, the criminal that stood in the box,
He who has been famous and he who shall be famous after to-day,
The stammerer19, the well-form'd person, the wasted or feeble person.
I am she who adorn'd herself and folded her hair expectantly,
My truant20 lover has come, and it is dark.
Double yourself and receive me darkness,
Receive me and my lover too, he will not let me go without him.
I roll myself upon you as upon a bed, I resign myself to the dusk.
He whom I call answers me and takes the place of my lover,
He rises with me silently from the bed.
Darkness, you are gentler than my lover, his flesh was sweaty and panting,
I feel the hot moisture yet that he left me.
My hands are spread forth21, I pass them in all directions,
I would sound up the shadowy shore to which you are journeying.
Be careful darkness! already what was it touch'd me?
I thought my lover had gone, else darkness and he are one,
I hear the heart-beat, I follow, I fade away.
2
I descend22 my western course, my sinews are flaccid,
Perfume and youth course through me and I am their wake.
It is my face yellow and wrinkled instead of the old woman's,
I sit low in a straw-bottom chair and carefully darn my grandson's
stockings.
It is I too, the sleepless23 widow looking out on the winter midnight,
I see the sparkles of starshine on the icy and pallid24 earth.
A shroud25 I see and I am the shroud, I wrap a body and lie in the coffin26,
It is dark here under ground, it is not evil or pain here, it is
blank here, for reasons.
(It seems to me that every thing in the light and air ought to be happy,
Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave let him know he has enough.)
3
I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer swimming naked through the eddies27
of the sea,
His brown hair lies close and even to his head, he strikes out with
courageous28 arms, he urges himself with his legs,
I see his white body, I see his undaunted eyes,
I hate the swift-running eddies that would dash him head-foremost on
the rocks.
What are you doing you ruffianly red-trickled waves?
Will you kill the courageous giant? will you kill him in the prime
of his middle age?
Steady and long he struggles,
He is baffled, bang'd, bruis'd, he holds out while his strength
holds out,
The slapping eddies are spotted29 with his blood, they bear him away,
they roll him, swing him, turn him,
His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies, it is
continually bruis'd on rocks,
Swiftly and ought of sight is borne the brave corpse4.
4
I turn but do not extricate30 myself,
Confused, a past-reading, another, but with darkness yet.
The beach is cut by the razory ice-wind, the wreck-guns sound,
The tempest lulls31, the moon comes floundering through the drifts.
I look where the ship helplessly heads end on, I hear the burst as
she strikes, I hear the howls of dismay, they grow fainter and fainter.
I cannot aid with my wringing32 fingers,
I can but rush to the surf and let it drench33 me and freeze upon me.
I search with the crowd, not one of the company is wash'd to us alive,
In the morning I help pick up the dead and lay them in rows in a barn.
5
Now of the older war-days, the defeat at Brooklyn,
Washington stands inside the lines, he stands on the intrench'd
hills amid a crowd of officers.
His face is cold and damp, he cannot repress the weeping drops,
He lifts the glass perpetually to his eyes, the color is blanch'd
from his cheeks,
He sees the slaughter34 of the southern braves confided35 to him by
their parents.
The same at last and at last when peace is declared,
He stands in the room of the old tavern36, the well-belov'd soldiers
all pass through,
The officers speechless and slow draw near in their turns,
The chief encircles their necks with his arm and kisses them on the cheek,
He kisses lightly the wet cheeks one after another, he shakes hands
and bids good-by to the army.
6
Now what my mother told me one day as we sat at dinner together,
Of when she was a nearly grown girl living home with her parents on
the old homestead.
A red squaw came one breakfast-time to the old homestead,
On her back she carried a bundle of rushes for rush-bottoming chairs,
Her hair, straight, shiny, coarse, black, profuse37, half-envelop'd
her face,
Her step was free and elastic38, and her voice sounded exquisitely39 as
she spoke40.
My mother look'd in delight and amazement41 at the stranger,
She look'd at the freshness of her tall-borne face and full and
pliant42 limbs,
The more she look'd upon her she loved her,
Never before had she seen such wonderful beauty and purity,
She made her sit on a bench by the jamb of the fireplace, she cook'd
food for her,
She had no work to give her, but she gave her remembrance and fondness.
The red squaw staid all the forenoon, and toward the middle of the
afternoon she went away,
O my mother was loth to have her go away,
All the week she thought of her, she watch'd for her many a month,
She remember'd her many a winter and many a summer,
But the red squaw never came nor was heard of there again.
7
A show of the summer softness—a contact of something unseen—an
amour of the light and air,
I am jealous and overwhelm'd with friendliness43,
And will go gallivant with the light and air myself.
O love and summer, you are in the dreams and in me,
Autumn and winter are in the dreams, the farmer goes with his thrift44,
The droves and crops increase, the barns are well-fill'd.
Elements merge45 in the night, ships make tacks46 in the dreams,
The sailor sails, the exile returns home,
The fugitive47 returns unharm'd, the immigrant is back beyond months
and years,
The poor Irishman lives in the simple house of his childhood with
the well known neighbors and faces,
They warmly welcome him, he is barefoot again, he forgets he is well off,
The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman and Welshman voyage
home, and the native of the Mediterranean48 voyages home,
To every port of England, France, Spain, enter well-fill'd ships,
The Swiss foots it toward his hills, the Prussian goes his way, the
Hungarian his way, and the Pole his way,
The Swede returns, and the Dane and Norwegian return.
The homeward bound and the outward bound,
The beautiful lost swimmer, the ennuye, the onanist, the female that
loves unrequited, the money-maker,
The actor and actress, those through with their parts and those
waiting to commence,
The affectionate boy, the husband and wife, the voter, the nominee49
that is chosen and the nominee that has fail'd,
The great already known and the great any time after to-day,
The stammerer, the sick, the perfect-form'd, the homely50,
The criminal that stood in the box, the judge that sat and sentenced
him, the fluent lawyers, the jury, the audience,
The laugher and weeper, the dancer, the midnight widow, the red squaw,
The consumptive, the erysipalite, the idiot, he that is wrong'd,
The antipodes, and every one between this and them in the dark,
I swear they are averaged now—one is no better than the other,
The night and sleep have liken'd them and restored them.
I swear they are all beautiful,
Every one that sleeps is beautiful, every thing in the dim light is
beautiful,
The wildest and bloodiest51 is over, and all is peace.
Peace is always beautiful,
The myth of heaven indicates peace and night.
The myth of heaven indicates the soul,
The soul is always beautiful, it appears more or it appears less, it
comes or it lags behind,
It comes from its embower'd garden and looks pleasantly on itself
and encloses the world,
Perfect and clean the genitals previously52 jetting,and perfect and
clean the womb cohering53,
The head well-grown proportion'd and plumb54, and the bowels55 and
joints56 proportion'd and plumb.
The soul is always beautiful,
The universe is duly in order, every thing is in its place,
What has arrived is in its place and what waits shall be in its place,
The twisted skull57 waits, the watery58 or rotten blood waits,
The child of the glutton59 or venerealee waits long, and the child of
the drunkard waits long, and the drunkard himself waits long,
The sleepers that lived and died wait, the far advanced are to go on
in their turns, and the far behind are to come on in their turns,
The diverse shall be no less diverse, but they shall flow and unite—
they unite now.
8
The sleepers are very beautiful as they lie unclothed,
They flow hand in hand over the whole earth from east to west as
they lie unclothed,
The Asiatic and African are hand in hand, the European and American
are hand in hand,
Learn'd and unlearn'd are hand in hand, and male and female are hand
in hand,
The bare arm of the girl crosses the bare breast of her lover, they
press close without lust60, his lips press her neck,
The father holds his grown or ungrown son in his arms with
measureless love, and the son holds the father in his arms with
measureless love,
The white hair of the mother shines on the white wrist of the daughter,
The breath of the boy goes with the breath of the man, friend is
inarm'd by friend,
The scholar kisses the teacher and the teacher kisses the scholar,
the wrong 'd made right,
The call of the slave is one with the master's call, and the master
salutes61 the slave,
The felon62 steps forth from the prison, the insane becomes sane5, the
suffering of sick persons is reliev'd,
The sweatings and fevers stop, the throat that was unsound is sound,
the lungs of the consumptive are resumed, the poor distress'd
head is free,
The joints of the rheumatic move as smoothly63 as ever, and smoother
than ever,
Stiflings and passages open, the paralyzed become supple64,
The swell'd and convuls'd and congested awake to themselves in condition,
They pass the invigoration of the night and the chemistry of the
night, and awake.
I too pass from the night,
I stay a while away O night, but I return to you again and love you.
Why should I be afraid to trust myself to you?
I am not afraid, I have been well brought forward by you,
I love the rich running day, but I do not desert her in whom I lay so long,
I know not how I came of you and I know not where I go with you, but
I know I came well and shall go well.
I will stop only a time with the night, and rise betimes,
I will duly pass the day O my mother, and duly return to you.
Transpositions
Let the reformers descend from the stands where they are forever
bawling—let an idiot or insane person appear on each of the stands;
Let judges and criminals be transposed—let the prison-keepers be
put in prison—let those that were prisoners take the keys;
Let them that distrust birth and death lead the rest.
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收听单词发音
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1
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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3
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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pervades
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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7
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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8
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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9
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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10
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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11
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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12
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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13
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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14
recedes
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的第三人称单数 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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15
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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16
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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17
pennants
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| n.校旗( pennant的名词复数 )；锦标旗；长三角旗；信号旗 | |
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18
emigrant
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| adj.移居的，移民的；n.移居外国的人，移民 | |
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19
stammerer
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| n.口吃的人；结巴 | |
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20
truant
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| n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课 | |
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21
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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22
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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23
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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24
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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25
shroud
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| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
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26
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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27
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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28
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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29
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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30
extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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31
lulls
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| n.间歇期（lull的复数形式）vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的第三人称单数形式） | |
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32
wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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33
drench
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| v.使淋透，使湿透 | |
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34
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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35
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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36
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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37
profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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38
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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39
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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40
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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41
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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42
pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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43
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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44
thrift
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| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
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45
merge
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| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
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46
tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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47
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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48
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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49
nominee
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| n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者 | |
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50
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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51
bloodiest
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| adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的 | |
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52
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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53
cohering
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| v.黏合( cohere的现在分词 )；联合；结合；（指看法、推理等）前后一致 | |
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54
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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55
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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56
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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57
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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58
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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59
glutton
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| n.贪食者，好食者 | |
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60
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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61
salutes
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| 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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62
felon
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| n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的 | |
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63
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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64
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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