Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900. Song of the Broad-Axe
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Muscle and pluck forever!
What invigorates life, invigorates death, 95
And the dead advance as much as the living advance,
And the future is no more uncertain than the present,
And the roughness of the earth and of man encloses as much as the delicatesse of the earth and of man,
And nothing endures but personal qualities.
What do you think endures? 100
Do you think the great city endures?
Or a teeming manufacturing state? or a prepared constitution? or the best-built steamships?
Or hotels of granite and iron? or any chef-d’oeuvres of engineering, forts, armaments?
Away! These are not to be cherish’d for themselves;
They fill their hour, the dancers dance, the musicians play for them; 105
The show passes, all does well enough of course,
All does very well till one flash of defiance.
The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman;
If it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.
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The place where the great city stands is not the place of stretch’d wharves, docks, manufactures, deposits of produce, 110
Nor the place of ceaseless salutes of new comers, or the anchor-lifters of the departing,
Nor the place of the tallest and costliest buildings, or shops selling goods from the rest of the earth,
Nor the place of the best libraries and schools—nor the place where money is plentiest,
Nor the place of the most numerous population.
Where the city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards; 115
Where the city stands that is beloved by these, and loves them in return, and understands them;
Where no monuments exist to heroes, but in the common words and deeds;
Where thrift is in its place, and prudence is in its place;
Where the men and women think lightly of the laws;
Where the slave ceases, and the master of slaves ceases; 120
Where the populace rise at once against the never-ending audacity of elected persons;
Where fierce men and women pour forth, as the sea to the whistle of death pours its sweeping and unript waves;
Where outside authority enters always after the precedence of inside authority;
Where the citizen is always the head and ideal—and President, Mayor, Governor, and what not, are agents for pay;
Where children are taught to be laws to themselves, and to depend on themselves; 125
Where equanimity is illustrated in affairs;
Where speculations on the Soul are encouraged;
Where women walk in public processions in the streets, the same as the men,
Where they enter the public assembly and take places the same as the men;
Where the city of the faithfulest friends stands; 130
Where the city of the cleanliness of the sexes stands;
Where the city of the healthiest fathers stands;
Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands,
There the great city stands.
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How beggarly appear arguments before a defiant deed! 135
How the floridness of the materials of cities shrivels before a man’s or woman’s look!
All waits, or goes by default, till a strong being appears;
A strong being is the proof of the race, and of the ability of the universe;
When he or she appears, materials are overaw’d,
The dispute on the Soul stops, 140
The old customs and phrases are confronted, turn’d back, or laid away.
What is your money-making now? what can it do now?
What is your respectability now?
What are your theology, tuition, society, traditions, statute-books, now?
Where are your jibes of being now? 145
Where are your cavils about the Soul now?
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力气和胆量永远是重要的!
能够激励生的也能激励死,
死者也正如生者一样在前进,
未来也不比现在更渺茫,
大地和人的粗糙所包含的意义和大地和人的精微所包含的一样多,
除了个人的品质什么也不能持久。
你想什么能持久呢?
你想一个伟大的城池能持久么?
或者一个生产丰饶的国家?或者一部订好了的宪法?或者建造优良的
汽船?
或者用花岗石和钢铁盖的大旅馆?或者任何工程杰作,炮台,军备?
去吧!这一切本身并没有什么可珍爱的,
这些只是暂时的,如跳舞者的跳舞,音乐师的伴奏,
表演过了,一切自然都很好,
一切都做得很好,直到人们挑衅的闪光出现。
一座伟大的城池是有着伟大的男人和女人的城池,
即使它只有几间破敝的茅屋,它仍然是全世界最伟大的城池。
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.一座伟大的城他所在之处并不仅是有着伸长的码头、船坞、制造场和
贮积的地方,
也不仅是不断地向新来的人或拔锚离去的人敬礼的地方,
也不仅是有高楼大厦,贩卖各地货物的商店的地方,
也不仅是有最优良的图书馆和学校,或是充满金钱的地方。
也不仅是人口最多的地方。
这城池有着最雄伟的演说家和诗人,
他们热爱这城池,这城池也热爱他们,了解他们,
那里除了普通的言行并没有为英雄而建立的纪念碑,
那里有勤俭,那里有谨慎,
那里男人和女人不看重法律,
那里没有奴隶,也没有奴隶的主人,
那里人民立刻起来反对被选人的无休止的胡作非为,
那里男人女人勇猛地奔赴死的号召,有如大海的汹涌的狂浪,
那里外部的权力总是跟随在内部的权力之后,
那里公民总是头脑和理想,总统、市长、州长只是有报酬的雇用人,
那里孩子们被教育着自己管理自己,并自己依靠自己,
那里事件总是平静地解决,
那里对心灵的探索受到鼓励,
那里妇女在大街上公开游行,如同男子一样。
那里她们走到公共集会上,如同男子一样取得席次;
那里城市有最忠诚的朋友,
有最纯洁的男女,
最健康的父亲,
最健美的母亲,
那里就是伟大的城市。
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在大胆的行为面前,议论争辩显得如何地贫乏可怜!
城市的物质的美丽,在男人或女人的风范面前显得如何地萎缩!
一切都期待着一个强者的出现,
一个强者是种族与宇宙之能力的证明,
当他或她出现,物质便黯然失色,
关于灵魂的争辩终止了,
古老的习俗和辞句,被重加考虑,推开或者抛弃
现在你的赚钱牟利算得什么呢?那有什么用呢?
现在你的尊严体面算得什么呢?
现在你的神学、教育、社会、传说、法令,算得什么呢?
现在你对于生命的斥责在哪里呢:
现在你对于心灵的苛求在哪里呢?