第35章 兩首詩

兩首詩 許多世紀以前，有兩個詩人在到雅典去的大路上相遇，彼此見面，很是高興。 一個詩人間另一個詩人道："你最近在寫什麼？你的七弦豎琴如何配樂？"另一個詩人自豪地回答道："我剛寫完我的最偉大的詩篇，也許是迄今用希臘文寫的最偉大的詩篇。這是一首向至高無上的宙斯神祈禱的詩篇。" 於是他從斗篷下取出一卷羊皮紙，說道："哎，你瞧，我把詩稿帶來了，我很高興讀給你聽。來吧，讓我們坐到那棵白扁柏的樹蔭下去。" 詩人便朗讀他的詩。那是一首長詩。 另一個詩人友好地說道："這是一首偉大的詩篇。這詩將世代相傳，你將因此揚名千古。"

第一個詩人平靜地問道："那末你在最近的日子裡寫了些什麼呢？"另一個詩人答道："我寫得很少。只寫了八行詩，紀念一個在花園裡玩耍的孩子的。"接著他就背誦了那八行詩。 第一個詩人說："不賴，不賴。" 於是他們就分手了。 如今二千多年過去了，那八行詩仍在每個人的嘴裡吟詠，大家喜愛它珍惜它。 那首長詩雖然也確實世世代代在圖書館裡、在學者的藏書樓里傳下來了；雖然記得這首詩，卻既沒有人愛它，又沒有人讀它。 The Two Poems Many centuries ago, on a road to Athens, two poets met, and they were glad to see one another.

And one poet asked the other saying, "What have you composed of late, and how goes it with your lyre?" And the other poet answered and said with pride, "I have but now finished the greatest of my poems, perchance the greatest poem yet written in Greek. It is an invocation to Zeus the Supreme."

Then he took from beneath his cloak a parchment, saying, "Here, behold, I have it with me, and I would fain read it to you. Come, let us sit in the shade of that white cypress." And the poet read his poem. And it was a long poem. And the other poet said in kindliness, "This is a great poem. It will live through the ages, and in it you shall be glorified."

And the first poet said calmly, "And what have you been writing these late days?" And the other another, "I have written but little. Only eight lines in remembrance of a child playing in a garden." And he recited the lines. The first poet said, "Not so bad; not so bad."

And they parted. And now after two thousand years the eight lines of the one poet are read in every tongue, and are loved and cherished. And though the other poem has indeed come down through the ages in libraries and in the cells of scholars, and though it is remembered, it is neither loved nor read.