诗歌：Whatever You Say, Say Nothing

英语自学网

Seamus Heaney
        "Religion's never mentioned here", of course.
        "You know them by their eyes," and hold your tongue.
        "One side's as bad as the other," never worse.
        Christ, it's near time that some small leak was sprung
        In the great dykes the Dutchman made
        To dam the dangerous tide that followed Seamus.
        Yet for all this art and sedentary trade
        I am incapable. The famous
        Northern reticence, the tight gag of place
        And times: yes, yes. Of the "wee six" I sing
        Where to be saved you only must save face
        And whatever you say, you say nothing.
        Smoke-signals are loud-mouthed compared with us:
        Manoeuvrings to find out name and school,
        Subtle discrimination by addresses
        With hardly an exception to the rule
        That Norman, Ken and Sidney signalled Prod
        And Seamus (call me Sean) was sure-fire Pape.
        O land of password, handgrip, wink and nod,
        Of open minds as open as a trap,
        Where tongues lie coiled, as under flames lie wicks,
        Where half of us, as in a wooden horse
        Were cabin'd and confined like wily Greeks,
        Besieged within the siege, whispering morse.