Philip Larkin (1922-1985)

Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;

And the shut shops, the bleached
Established names on the sunblinds,
The farthings and sovereigns,
And dark-clothed children at play
Called after kings and queens,
The tin advertisements
For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
Wide open all day--

And the countryside not caring:
The place names all hazed over
With flowering grasses, and fields
Shadowing Domesday lines
Under wheat's restless silence;
The differently-dressed servants
With tiny rooms in huge houses,
The dust behind limousines;

Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word--the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages,
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.

關於戰爭的詩，中國古代也有很多，朝代更迭，政治理想包藏著權利野心，人民就像刀俎上的魚肉。這首是譯為一九一四年 嗎？

一九一四年是第一次世界大戰爆發的年份。

沒有讀英文詩的習慣，今天不小心看到它的。

這首讓我覺得很震撼，怎麼說呢？嗯......它不是用很濃郁的顏色或是一個血腥的畫面，詩的開始在描述一些稀鬆平常的景，只是它的景色漸漸被陰影籠罩，給人的不安感是層層堆疊上的，到最後一段作者才控訴

The thousands of marriages,
Lasting a little while longer

作者給的評論是

『Never such innocence』

『Never such innocence again』

這個字『innocence』用的真好，真的很諷刺。

好棒的作品，希望我的寫作能力能企及這種程度。