作者：H. P. Lovecraft & Winifred V. Jackson 譯者：CaptainSnafu 未經(jīng)允許，請勿轉(zhuǎn)載 Of the pleasures and pains of opium much has been written. The ecstasies and horrors of De Quincey and the paradis artificiels of Baudelaire are preserved and interpreted with an art which makes them immortal, and the world knows well the beauty, the terror, and the mystery of those obscure realms into which the inspired dreamer is transported. But much as has been told, no man has yet dared intimate the nature of the phantasms thus unfolded to the mind, or hint at the direction of the unheard-of roads along whose ornate and exotic course the partaker of the drug is so irresistibly borne. De Quincey was drawn back into Asia, that teeming land of nebulous shadows whose hideous antiquity is so impressive that “the vast age of the race and name overpowers the sense of youth in the individual”, but farther than that he dared not go. Those who have gone farther seldom returned; and even when they have, they have been either silent or quite mad. I took opium but once—in the year of the plague, when doctors sought to deaden the agonies they could not cure. There was an overdose—my physician was worn out with horror and exertion—and I travelled very far indeed. In the end I returned and lived, but my nights are filled with strange memories, nor have I ever permitted a doctor to give me opium again. 關于鴉片帶來的歡愉與痛苦已被描述甚多。德·昆西的狂喜和恐懼以及波德萊爾的人造天堂，都被演繹、留存為藝術(shù)，流芳百世，讓世人知曉其美妙與恐怖，身臨備受啟示的造夢者所步入的晦澀國度，體會其中奧秘。但言至于今，仍未有人敢透露這些展露于心的幻象本質(zhì)，也未有人敢暗示這些前所未聞的道路通向何處，但沿途之絢爛奇異，使藥物的享食者都無法抗拒地甘于忍受。德·昆西被引向了亞洲，那片被朦朧陰影所籠罩的熙攘之地，其古老到可畏的歷史令人印象深刻，如其所言：“種族和姓名所蘊含的悠古年歲壓制著個體年輕的感官”。但那迷幻之境，他也未敢更深入探尋。更進一步者，得返甚少，即使歸來，也都沉于靜默，或奔向瘋狂。我曾嘗用過鴉片一次，也是僅有的一次，是在瘟疫時期，醫(yī)生們試圖減輕他們所無法治愈的極度痛苦之時。那是一次過量的給藥，我的醫(yī)師在恐懼和勞累之中精疲力竭，我也在那迷幻之旅中邁步甚遠。最終我回到了現(xiàn)實并存活下來，但我的夜晚從此充滿了陌異的記憶，而我也未再允許任何醫(yī)生對我使用鴉片藥劑。 The pain and pounding in my head had been quite unendurable when the drug was administered. Of the future I had no heed; to escape, whether by cure, unconsciousness, or death, was all that concerned me. I was partly delirious, so that it is hard to place the exact moment of transition, but I think the effect must have begun shortly before the pounding ceased to be painful. As I have said, there was an overdose; so my reactions were probably far from normal. The sensation of falling, curiously dissociated from the idea of gravity or direction, was paramount; though there was a subsidiary impression of unseen throngs in incalculable profusion, throngs of infinitely diverse nature, but all more or less related to me. Sometimes it seemed less as though I were falling, than as though the universe or the ages were falling past me. Suddenly my pain ceased, and I began to associate the pounding with an external rather than internal force. The falling had ceased also, giving place to a sensation of uneasy, temporary rest; and when I listened closely, I fancied the pounding was that of the vast, inscrutable sea as its sinister, colossal breakers lacerated some desolate shore after a storm of titanic magnitude. Then I opened my eyes. 在施用藥物時，我頭腦中的疼痛和重擊轟響令人難以容忍。我不再關心未來，只想逃離這苦難，無論是治愈、昏迷，或是死亡，怎樣都好。我已半步譫妄，難以記起這知覺轉(zhuǎn)變的準確時刻，但我認為藥效必定發(fā)揮得很快，在那些轟響不再帶來痛苦之前就已開始。如前所述，這是一次過量的用藥，我的不良反應大概遠非尋常。那種墜落的感覺最為突出，似乎奇怪地脫離了重力和方向的概念。盡管還有一種次要的印象，我感受到無數(shù)未曾見識的事物，無限各異的本質(zhì)，但全都多或少與我相關。有時候，與其說是我自身在墜落，不如說是整個宇宙或時光從我身邊墜落。出乎意料地，我的疼痛戛然而止，我也開始將那轟響與外部而非內(nèi)部的作用力聯(lián)系起來。墜落也一并停息，讓位于一種不安而短暫的靜止。當我仔細聆聽，想象著那重擊聲響源自浩瀚莫測的海洋，在一場翻天覆地的風暴席卷之后，險惡而壯闊的碎浪撕裂著荒蕪的濱岸。然后，我便睜開了眼睛。 For a moment my surroundings seemed confused, like a projected image hopelessly out of focus, but gradually I realised my solitary presence in a strange and beautiful room lighted by many windows. Of the exact nature of the apartment I could form no idea, for my thoughts were still far from settled; but I noticed vari-coloured rugs and draperies, elaborately fashioned tables, chairs, ottomans, and divans, and delicate vases and ornaments which conveyed a suggestion of the exotic without being actually alien. These things I noticed, yet they were not long uppermost in my mind. Slowly but inexorably crawling upon my consciousness, and rising above every other impression, came a dizzying fear of the unknown; a fear all the greater because I could not analyse it, and seeming to concern a stealthily approaching menace—not death, but some nameless, unheard-of thing inexpressibly more ghastly and abhorrent. 有那么瞬間我的周遭似乎變得混亂，像是嚴重失焦的投映影像。但漸漸地，我察覺到自己獨自地出現(xiàn)在了一個陌生而華美的房間，它被點綴著許多的窗戶，令之通明。我無法辨清這個房間的確切用途，因為我的思緒還遠未安穩(wěn)下來。但我注意到那些多彩的地毯與帷帳、精致時髦的桌椅、腳墊和長沙發(fā)，還有精巧玲瓏的花瓶和飾品，隱約地散發(fā)著異國情調(diào)卻又不失相容。這些美輪美奐之物使我留意，但并未能長久地占據(jù)我的心靈。一種對未知的畏懼使我昏亂，它緩慢卻無情地攀升在我的意識之上，凌駕于其它所有的感覺。這種恐懼因為我的無力解析而變得更加強烈，它似乎意味著一種正鬼祟臨近的威脅——不是死亡，而是一些無可名狀、前所未聞的、更加難以言喻地陰森恐怖且令人憎惡的存在。 Presently I realised that the direct symbol and excitant of my fear was the hideous pounding whose incessant reverberations throbbed maddeningly against my exhausted brain. It seemed to come from a point outside and below the edifice in which I stood, and to associate itself with the most terrifying mental images. I felt that some horrible scene or object lurked beyond the silk-hung walls, and shrank from glancing through the arched, latticed windows that opened so bewilderingly on every hand. Perceiving shutters attached to these windows, I closed them all, averting my eyes from the exterior as I did so. Then, employing a flint and steel which I found on one of the small tables, I lit the many candles reposing about the walls in Arabesque sconces. The added sense of security brought by closed shutters and artificial light calmed my nerves to some degree, but I could not shut out the monotonous pounding. Now that I was calmer, the sound became as fascinating as it was fearful, and I felt a contradictory desire to seek out its source despite my still powerful shrinking. Opening a portiere at the side of the room nearest the pounding, I beheld a small and richly draped corridor ending in a carven door and large oriel window. To this window I was irresistibly drawn, though my ill-defined apprehensions seemed almost equally bent on holding me back. As I approached it I could see a chaotic whirl of waters in the distance. Then, as I attained it and glanced out on all sides, the stupendous picture of my surroundings burst upon me with full and devastating force. 隨即我便意識到，那可怕的砰擊聲就是我恐懼的直接象征及其激化劑，接連不斷的多重混響瘋狂地律動，抽打著我已枯竭的大腦。它似乎來自外部的的某個點，在我所佇立的龐然建筑之下，并與最駭人的心靈幻象聯(lián)結(jié)在一起。我感覺有某些恐怖的場景或物件潛藏在吊掛著的絲綢的墻壁之外，畏縮地不敢向那些讓人迷亂地在四面八方敞開的拱形格窗瞥去。在發(fā)現(xiàn)裝配在窗戶上的百葉簾后，我盡數(shù)將把它們拉下，同時避免目光越出窗外。隨后，我使用在其中一個小桌上尋得的燧石和鋼塊，點亮了許多安置在墻上的阿拉伯紋飾燭臺里的蠟燭。緊閉的百葉簾和人造的火光所增添的安全感在一定程度上撫慰了我的神經(jīng)，但我依然無法阻斷那陣單調(diào)重復的轟響。如今我更為鎮(zhèn)靜，那陣聲響在令人畏懼的同時，竟也顯得對等般地迷人。我感受到一種充滿矛盾的渴望要去尋求它的來源，即使我也感到了更加強烈的畏縮。拔開一塊擋住房間里最靠近聲源那側(cè)的門簾，我看見一條小巧而被堂皇艷麗的帷幕所鋪蓋的走廊，通往一道雕飾的門戶與一扇大型的凸窗。無法抗拒地，我被引向這扇窗戶，盡管也有一種模糊的憂慮和恐懼在同等盡力地阻攔著我。 在接近它時，我便看見了遠處一個混亂的漩渦。然后，我到達了窗沿并向外環(huán)視各方，伴隨著一種飽滿而震撼的力量，周圍壯觀的景色在我的視野中迸開。 I beheld such a sight as I had never beheld before, and which no living person can have seen save in the delirium of fever or the inferno of opium. The building stood on a narrow point of land—or what was now a narrow point of land—fully 300 feet above what must lately have been a seething vortex of mad waters. On either side of the house there fell a newly washed-out precipice of red earth, whilst ahead of me the hideous waves were still rolling in frightfully, eating away the land with ghastly monotony and deliberation. Out a mile or more there rose and fell menacing breakers at least fifty feet in height, and on the far horizon ghoulish black clouds of grotesque contour were resting and brooding like unwholesome vultures. The waves were dark and purplish, almost black, and clutched at the yielding red mud of the bank as if with uncouth, greedy hands. I could not but feel that some noxious marine mind had declared a war of extermination upon all the solid ground, perhaps abetted by the angry sky. 我目睹了未曾見過的光景，除非是在熱癥的譫妄或在鴉片引發(fā)的煉獄幻象中，沒有任何一個活人能見識到此般景象。這座建筑矗立于陸地的狹小一角——又或者說是僅存的一塊狹小陸地上，陸岬在一片如今已是沸騰漩渦的湍流中陡然拔升至少三百英尺。在房屋的兩側(cè)是被新近地沖蝕而成的赤壤絕壁，駭人的波濤在我面前滾涌而來，以一種千篇一律又從容不迫的恐怖吞噬著土地。而在一英里或更遠之外，澎湃的碎浪以起碼五十英尺的潮差起伏奔騰，輪廓畸丑怪誕的烏云更像是不潔的禿鷲，令人毛骨悚然地在地平線上靜候、徘徊。浪潮將近漆黑但略帶紫色，像是伸出無數(shù)粗野并且貪婪的手，緊扼住灘岸上早已屈服的紅土。我不禁地感到，仿佛有某種兇惡的海洋意志已向大地宣戰(zhàn)，旨意抹除所有堅實的巖土，也許憤怒的天空也在助之為虐。 Recovering at length from the stupor into which this unnatural spectacle had thrown me, I realised that my actual physical danger was acute. Even whilst I gazed the bank had lost many feet, and it could not be long before the house would fall undermined into the awful pit of lashing waves. Accordingly I hastened to the opposite side of the edifice, and finding a door, emerged at once, locking it after me with a curious key which had hung inside. I now beheld more of the strange region about me, and marked a singular division which seemed to exist in the hostile ocean and firmament. On each side of the jutting promontory different conditions held sway. At my left as I faced inland was a gently heaving sea with great green waves rolling peacefully in under a brightly shining sun. Something about that sun’s nature and position made me shudder, but I could not then tell, and cannot tell now, what it was. At my right also was the sea, but it was blue, calm, and only gently undulating, while the sky above it was darker and the washed-out bank more nearly white than reddish. 從這非自然奇觀所沖擊而來的恍惚中恢復，我終于意識到自己的處境是多么危險和急迫。在我注視那早就流失嚴重的坡岸同時，房屋下塌并墮入怒濤洶涌的深坑的時刻也已迫在眉睫。因此我連忙沖往建筑的另一端，在霎那間找到一扇顯現(xiàn)在眼前的門，隨后用掛在門內(nèi)側(cè)的古怪鑰匙將它緊鎖在身后。此時我看到附近有一個更為陌生的地區(qū)，似乎是存在于充滿敵意的海洋和天空中被分隔出的獨特界域。與先前截然不同的景色，在隆起的岬角兩側(cè)分庭抗禮。當我面對著內(nèi)陸時，在我左側(cè)的是一汪和緩漸進的起伏之海，熱情的碧浪在明亮的太陽下綿延翻滾。那個太陽有著某種令我不寒而栗的特質(zhì)，可我道不出個所以然，彼時不可，此刻亦不能。在我的右側(cè)也是海洋，但它顯得蔚藍、冷靜，只有平穩(wěn)的波動。同時它上方的天空更為陰暗，而被沖蝕的海岸將近發(fā)白，只略存微紅。 I now turned my attention to the land, and found occasion for fresh surprise; for the vegetation resembled nothing I had ever seen or read about. It was apparently tropical or at least sub-tropical—a conclusion borne out by the intense heat of the air. Sometimes I thought I could trace strange analogies with the flora of my native land, fancying that the well-known plants and shrubs might assume such forms under a radical change of climate; but the gigantic and omnipresent palm trees were plainly foreign. The house I had just left was very small—hardly more than a cottage—but its material was evidently marble, and its architecture was weird and composite, involving a quaint fusion of Western and Eastern forms. At the corners were Corinthian columns, but the red tile roof was like that of a Chinese pagoda. From the door inland there stretched a path of singularly white sand, about four feet wide, and lined on either side with stately palms and unidentifiable flowering shrubs and plants. It lay toward the side of the promontory where the sea was blue and the bank rather whitish. Down this path I felt impelled to flee, as if pursued by some malignant spirit from the pounding ocean. At first it was slightly uphill, then I reached a gentle crest. Behind me I saw the scene I had left; the entire point with the cottage and the black water, with the green sea on one side and the blue sea on the other, and a curse unnamed and unnamable lowering over all. I never saw it again, and often wonder. . . . After this last look I strode ahead and surveyed the inland panorama before me. 我將注意力轉(zhuǎn)向陸地，并發(fā)現(xiàn)了新的驚奇。這里的一些植被與我見聞過的任何植物均不吻合，但從空氣的灼熱可以推斷它們是熱帶或亞熱帶植物。有時候我覺得能探查出一些不同尋常的相似之處，將它們與故鄉(xiāng)的本土植物群做出奇特的類比，假想著某些眾所周知的花草和灌木可能會在氣候的極端轉(zhuǎn)變下異化成此般形態(tài)。但那些巨大的、無處不在的棕櫚樹則顯然源自外鄉(xiāng)。我方才離開的房屋其實很小，只能勉強與鄉(xiāng)舍相比，但它的材質(zhì)卻是實打?qū)嵉拇罄硎?，?gòu)筑風格奇異而復合，蘊含著東西方樣式的奇趣交融。支撐在房屋角落的是科林斯式圓柱，但紅瓦屋頂就像中國的佛塔。一條寬約四英尺的小徑從門外向內(nèi)陸延展，通往岬角有著湛藍海面和發(fā)白灘岸的那邊。這條道路由潔白異常的沙石鋪就，兩邊排列著莊嚴的棕櫚樹，還有無法明辨的開花植叢與灌木。我有一種沖動想要沿著小徑逃離這里，仿佛被來自那發(fā)出轟響的海洋的惡毒精魂所追趕著一般。最初，它一路上沿，到達一個平緩的坡頂，能看到我留在身后的整片風景。我看見了那間屋舍和黑暗的激流，看見蔚藍和碧綠的海洋各據(jù)一方，以及一種無名且無可名的詛咒陰沉著覆蓋一切。我未再見過它，并時常想起它…… 在這最后一瞥之后，我闊步前行，去探查眼前的內(nèi)陸全貌。 The path, as I have intimated, ran along the right-hand shore as one went inland. Ahead and to the left I now viewed a magnificent valley comprising thousands of acres, and covered with a swaying growth of tropical grass higher than my head. Almost at the limit of vision was a colossal palm tree which seemed to fascinate and beckon me. By this time wonder and escape from the imperilled peninsula had largely dissipated my fear, but as I paused and sank fatigued to the path, idly digging with my hands into the warm, whitish-golden sand, a new and acute sense of danger seized me. Some terror in the swishing tall grass seemed added to that of the diabolically pounding sea, and I started up crying aloud and disjointedly, “Tiger? Tiger? Is it Tiger? Beast? Beast? Is it a Beast that I am afraid of?” My mind wandered back to an ancient and classical story of tigers which I had read; I strove to recall the author, but had difficulty. Then in the midst of my fear I remembered that the tale was by Rudyard Kipling; nor did the grotesqueness of deeming him an ancient author occur to me. I wished for the volume containing this story, and had almost started back toward the doomed cottage to procure it when my better sense and the lure of the palm prevented me. 如我所言，這條小路沿著右岸向內(nèi)陸延伸。在我前方和左側(cè)我看見一座數(shù)千英畝的宏偉山谷，能沒過我頭部的熱帶草叢漫山遍野地隨風搖曳。在視野的將盡之處，一顆巨大的棕櫚樹令我神迷，仿佛在召喚著我。這一次，我的好奇心作祟，加上自己已逃離了那危險的半島，這些都顯著地驅(qū)散了我的畏懼。但當我深陷疲憊地停下腳步，躺在路上，閑散地將手掌插入那溫暖且白得發(fā)亮的沙礫的時候，一種全新而急迫的危險感攫住了我。在那發(fā)出嗖嗖聲的高大草叢中， 某種恐怖似乎與海洋的轟擊聲疊加、共鳴，我開始結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地大聲呼喊，“老...老虎？是老虎嗎？野獸？是野獸嗎？是野獸在令我畏懼嗎”。我的內(nèi)心回溯起讀過的一篇關于老虎的古代經(jīng)典故事，努力地想要記起它的作者，但并不容易。在恐懼之中，我終于想起是魯?shù)聛喌隆ぜ妨?，也因為恐懼，我沒有察覺到將他認成是古代作者是多么的荒謬可笑。我希冀得到一本包含這個故事的書冊，幾乎要啟程回到那劫數(shù)難逃的屋舍中尋得它，與此同時，我更清醒的理智以及那顆棕櫚樹對我的吸引阻止了我。 Whether or not I could have resisted the backward beckoning without the counter-fascination of the vast palm tree, I do not know. This attraction was now dominant, and I left the path and crawled on hands and knees down the valley’s slope despite my fear of the grass and of the serpents it might contain. I resolved to fight for life and reason as long as possible against all menaces of sea or land, though I sometimes feared defeat as the maddening swish of the uncanny grasses joined the still audible and irritating pounding of the distant breakers. I would frequently pause and put my hands to my ears for relief, but could never quite shut out the detestable sound. It was, as it seemed to me, only after ages that I finally dragged myself to the beckoning palm tree and lay quiet beneath its protecting shade. 我不知道如果沒有那顆巨大的棕櫚樹所給予的反制力，我是否能抗拒住那股想要返回的誘惑。它的引力在當前占據(jù)了上風，使我偏離小徑，無視了草叢中的恐怖以及可能有蛇藏匿其中的憂慮，手腳并用地爬下峽谷的山坡。我下定決心要為生存和理智而戰(zhàn)，只要還有能對抗海洋或大陸所有威脅的可能，盡管間或我也會害怕失敗，在那些不知名的草植發(fā)出令人發(fā)狂的嗖嗖聲，加入遠處海浪傳來擾人心神的砰響之時。我得頻繁地停下，用雙手捂蓋耳朵以求緩解，但未曾阻絕這可憎的噪音。對我而言，似乎是在很久很久之后，我才終于拖著自己的身軀到達那顆召喚著我的棕櫚樹，恬靜地躺在了它的庇蔭之下。 There now ensued a series of incidents which transported me to the opposite extremes of ecstasy and horror; incidents which I tremble to recall and dare not seek to interpret. No sooner had I crawled beneath the overhanging foliage of the palm, than there dropped from its branches a young child of such beauty as I never beheld before. Though ragged and dusty, this being bore the features of a faun or demigod, and seemed almost to diffuse a radiance in the dense shadow of the tree. It smiled and extended its hand, but before I could arise and speak I heard in the upper air the exquisite melody of singing; notes high and low blent with a sublime and ethereal harmoniousness. The sun had by this time sunk below the horizon, and in the twilight I saw that an aureola of lambent light encircled the child’s head. Then in a tone of silver it addressed me: “It is the end. They have come down through the gloaming from the stars. Now all is over, and beyond the Arinurian streams we shall dwell blissfully in Teloe.”As the child spoke, I beheld a soft radiance through the leaves of the palm tree, and rising greeted a pair whom I knew to be the chief singers among those I had heard. A god and goddess they must have been, for such beauty is not mortal; and they took my hands, saying, “Come, child, you have heard the voices, and all is well. In Teloe beyond the Milky Way and the Arinurian streams are cities all of amber and chalcedony. And upon their domes of many facets glisten the images of strange and beautiful stars. Under the ivory bridges of Teloe flow rivers of liquid gold bearing pleasure-barges bound for blossomy Cytharion of the Seven Suns. And in Teloe and Cytharion abide only youth, beauty, and pleasure, nor are any sounds heard, save of laughter, song, and the lute. Only the gods dwell in Teloe of the golden rivers, but among them shalt thou dwell.” 這一連串繼而發(fā)生的事故將我同時送達了狂喜與恐懼兩個截然相反的極端，我光是回憶就會戰(zhàn)栗，更遑論尋求解釋。我剛一爬到棕櫚樹垂吊著的枝葉底下，一個空前秀麗的幼童就從樹枝上掉落下來。盡管衣衫襤褸、遍身塵土，這個生物負有著牧神（Faun）或半神的特征，并似乎在稠密的樹影下彌散著光茫。祂微笑著伸出一只手，但在我起身和說話之前，我聽見了在高空中傳來歌唱的精美旋律，高低起伏的音符以一種崇高而縹緲的和諧相互交織。這時的太陽已沒入地平線，在暮光中我看到幽亮的光輪環(huán)繞在那孩童的頭上。隨后祂用銀鈴般的聲音向我開口：“這便是終結(jié)。它們已穿過夕幕，自星辰降臨。如今一切將盡，我們將越過艾因努爾之溪（Arinurian streams），幸福地棲居提洛（Teloe）神土?！痹诤⑼f話之際，我透過棕櫚樹的葉子看到了柔和的光芒，其中有一對男女向我招手。我知道祂們便是所聞之頌樂的領唱，我也知道祂們必是一對神明，因祂們的美麗絕非凡間所有。祂們牽著我的手，說道：“來吧，孩子，你已聆聽圣音，一切皆好。在銀河與艾因努爾溪之外的提洛，全由琥珀和瑪瑙筑造的城市林立。而在這些多棱宮殿的穹頂之上，閃耀著奇美星辰的壯景。提洛的象牙橋下，流淌著液體黃金的河流承載游船航向繁花盛開的七陽之地塞塔瑞昂（Cytharion）。在提洛和塞塔瑞昂，只有青春、美麗和快樂始終不渝，除了笑聲、歌聲和詩琴聲，再也聽不到其他噪響。只有神明居住在金河國度提洛，而你將棲身于眾神之中?！? As I listened, enchanted, I suddenly became aware of a change in my surroundings. The palm tree, so lately overshadowing my exhausted form, was now some distance to my left and considerably below me. I was obviously floating in the atmosphere; companioned not only by the strange child and the radiant pair, but by a constantly increasing throng of half-luminous, vine-crowned youths and maidens with wind-blown hair and joyful countenance. We slowly ascended together, as if borne on a fragrant breeze which blew not from the earth but from the golden nebulae, and the child whispered in my ear that I must look always upward to the pathways of light, and never backward to the sphere I had just left. The youths and maidens now chaunted mellifluous choriambics to the accompaniment of lutes, and I felt enveloped in a peace and happiness more profound than any I had in life imagined, when the intrusion of a single sound altered my destiny and shattered my soul. Through the ravishing strains of the singers and the lutanists, as if in mocking, daemoniac concord, throbbed from gulfs below the damnable, the detestable pounding of that hideous ocean. And as those black breakers beat their message into my ears I forgot the words of the child and looked back, down upon the doomed scene from which I thought I had escaped. 當我陶醉的傾聽著，我突然察覺到身邊環(huán)境的一些改變。那顆不久前在我精疲力竭的軀體蒙上陰影的棕櫚樹，現(xiàn)在就位于我左手邊的一段距離外，而且還在我下方的甚遠處。我顯然是正漂浮在了空中，陪同著我的除了那奇異的孩童和榮光四射的男女，還有一群不斷增加著的少男少女，祂們身披微光，頭戴藤冠，喜顏悅色，發(fā)絲隨風飄揚。我們一起緩慢地上升著，就如乘著一陣吹自金色星云而非地球的芬芳微風。那名孩童在我耳邊輕語，說我必須一直朝上凝望光明之路，絕不可回頭看向我們所離開的星球。此時，少男少女們在琵琶的伴奏下吟唱著婉轉(zhuǎn)流暢的詠嘆調(diào)，我感覺被繚繞在一片遠超于我生平所擁有或幻想過的寧靜和幸福之中。亦是此刻，一個改變我命運、撕碎我靈魂的聲音卻驟然侵闖。它貫穿了歌者與琵琶手們引人入勝的旋律，混合著如同嘲笑的惡魔協(xié)奏，在那受詛咒般嫌惡的海洋的可憎砰響之下，自深淵中律動。這些黑暗的浪潮將指示拍入我的腦海，令我遺忘那圣童的言語并向后回望，俯瞰著我認為自己已經(jīng)逃離的劫難之地。 Down through the aether I saw the accursed earth turning, ever turning, with angry and tempestuous seas gnawing at wild desolate shores and dashing foam against the tottering towers of deserted cities. And under a ghastly moon there gleamed sights I can never describe, sights I can never forget; deserts of corpse-like clay and jungles of ruin and decadence where once stretched the populous plains and villages of my native land, and maelstroms of frothing ocean where once rose the mighty temples of my forefathers. Around the northern pole steamed a morass of noisome growths and miasmal vapours, hissing before the onslaught of the ever-mounting waves that curled and fretted from the shuddering deep. Then a rending report clave the night, and athwart the desert of deserts appeared a smoking rift. Still the black ocean foamed and gnawed, eating away the desert on either side as the rift in the centre widened and widened. 透過以太，我看到被詛咒的地球在轉(zhuǎn)動，不停地轉(zhuǎn)動，憤怒而狂暴的大?？惺芍臎龅暮０叮瑢⑴菽瓫_向廢棄城市的顫巍高塔。在慘白的月亮下，隱約閃現(xiàn)著我永遠無法描述與忘懷的景象：陶土殘骸鋪就的沙漠，殘垣斷壁構(gòu)成的叢林，還有那片傾頹之地，曾遍布著人煙稠密的平原和屬于我故鄉(xiāng)的村莊，而那翻騰著白沫的海洋漩渦里，則曾經(jīng)聳立著我祖先們的宏偉廟宇。污穢贅生的惡臭泥淖環(huán)繞在北極周圍蒸騰著瘴氣，在從震顫著的海底深淵曲卷而來、愈涌愈烈的波濤奔襲面前發(fā)出嘶嘶悲鳴。隨后，一聲撕裂的巨響劃破夜幕，沙漠中敞開一道橫跨其浩瀚荒蕪的生煙地塹。黑色的海洋仍在咆哮著，啃噬著，在沙漠中心的裂縫不斷擴大的同時，也在將其兩邊蠶食殆盡。 There was now no land left but the desert, and still the fuming ocean ate and ate. All at once I thought even the pounding sea seemed afraid of something, afraid of dark gods of the inner earth that are greater than the evil god of waters, but even if it was it could not turn back; and the desert had suffered too much from those nightmare waves to help them now. So the ocean ate the last of the land and poured into the smoking gulf, thereby giving up all it had ever conquered. From the new-flooded lands it flowed again, uncovering death and decay; and from its ancient and immemorial bed it trickled loathsomely, uncovering nighted secrets of the years when Time was young and the gods unborn. Above the waves rose weedy, remembered spires. The moon laid pale lilies of light on dead London, and Paris stood up from its damp grave to be sanctified with star-dust. Then rose spires and monoliths that were weedy but not remembered; terrible spires and monoliths of lands that men never knew were lands. 現(xiàn)在，除卻荒漠，陸地已經(jīng)蕩然無存，而憤怒的海洋仍在侵食著。倏然間，我想到就連轟響著的海洋也似乎在畏懼著什么，懼怕著深藏于地球內(nèi)部的黑暗諸神——祂們比司掌水體的邪神更為強大，但即使如此，它也無法回頭。而沙漠已在夢魘般的巨浪中遭受了太多磨難，無法再助祂們力挽狂瀾。于是，海洋吞噬了最后的一點陸地，并將海水灌注進那滾滾生煙的裂隙之中，從而繳出它所曾征服過的一切。洪水再次從被新近淹沒的大陸上流逝，展露出死亡和衰敗。而那亙古得無從追溯的巖床中可恨的涓涓細流，揭示出自時光初現(xiàn)而神明尚未誕生之際便埋藏于黑夜的秘密。在波濤之上，升起了雜草叢生但曾被記起的尖塔。月亮用光影在死寂的倫敦上揮灑下蒼白的百合，巴黎的幽魂在它潮濕的墳墓上站起以接受星塵的圣祝。然后，升起的是一些同為雜草叢生卻從未被記起的尖塔與獨石碑，而這些駭人之物則紀念著那些從未被人類知曉為陸地的陸地。 There was not any pounding now, but only the unearthly roaring and hissing of waters tumbling into the rift. The smoke of that rift had changed to steam, and almost hid the world as it grew denser and denser. It seared my face and hands, and when I looked to see how it affected my companions I found they had all disappeared. Then very suddenly it ended, and I knew no more till I awaked upon a bed of convalescence. As the cloud of steam from the Plutonic gulf finally concealed the entire surface from my sight, all the firmament shrieked at a sudden agony of mad reverberations which shook the trembling aether. In one delirious flash and burst it happened; one blinding, deafening holocaust of fire, smoke, and thunder that dissolved the wan moon as it sped outward to the void. 所有轟響業(yè)已停歇，只剩下流水滾落裂縫時發(fā)出的吊詭可畏的咆哮和嘶鳴。裂隙的煙霧已轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)檎羝l(fā)稠密，幾乎能遮蔽世界。蒸汽灼傷了我的臉和雙手，而當我想看看它對我的同伴們會有何影響時，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)祂們都已消失不見。遽然間，幻象走向終結(jié)，直至我從康復床上醒來，我對后事都一無所知。那冥獄深淵噴薄出的蒸騰汽霧終于把整個地表從我視野中隱去，而蒼穹迫發(fā)出突如其來的痛苦尖嘯，癲狂的回響沖擊著震顫的太虛。在狂亂中的一剎間，烈焰、濃煙和雷霆構(gòu)成了一場眩目刺眼、震耳欲聾的浩劫，而蒼白的月球在溶解中飛速地沒入虛無。 And when the smoke cleared away, and I sought to look upon the earth, I beheld against the background of cold, humorous stars only the dying sun and the pale mournful planets searching for their sister. 當煙霧散去，我試圖俯瞰大地，卻看見在冷笑著的繁星背景之下，只有垂死的太陽與蒼白悲慟的行星在尋找它們的姐妹。