Excelsior

Excelsior

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807–1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The shades of night were falling fast,

As through an Alpine ( ['?lpain] adj.高山的, 阿尔卑斯山的) village passed

A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,

A banner with the strange device,

      Excelsior!

 

His brow was sad; his eye beneath,

Flashed like a falchion ( ['f?:lt??n] n. 刀, 剑) from its sheath （[?i:θ] n. 鞘, 护套）,

And like a silver clarion （ ['kl?r??n]  尖音号角, 一种古代的小号） rung

The accents of that unknown tongue,

      Excelsior!

 

In happy homes he saw the light

Of household fires gleam warm and bright;

Above, the spectral ( ['spektr?l]  幽灵的, 光谱的) glaciers （['gl?s??] 冰河）shone,

And from his lips escaped a groan,

      Excelsior!

 

"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;

"Dark lowers the tempest ( ['tempist] 暴风雨, 骚动) overhead,

The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"

And loud that clarion voice replied,

      Excelsior!

 

"Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest

Thy weary head upon this breast! "

A tear stood in his bright blue eye,

But still he answered, with a sigh,

      Excelsior!

 

"Beware the pine-tree's withered ( ['w?e?(r)]  枯萎, 感到羞愧) branch!

Beware the awful avalanche （['?v?lɑ:nt?] 雪崩, 大量）!"

This was the peasant's last Good-night,

A voice replied, far up the height,

      Excelsior!

 

At break of day, as heavenward

The pious (['pai?s] 虔诚的, 伪善的) monks of Saint Bernard

Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,

A voice cried through the startled air,

      Excelsior!

 

A traveller, by the faithful hound,

Half-buried in the snow was found,

Still grasping in his hand of ice

That banner with the strange device,

      Excelsior!

 

There in the twilight cold and gray,

Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,

And from the sky, serene ([s?'r??n]  宁静的, 安详的, 沉著的) and far,

A voice fell like a falling star,

      Excelsior!