暗黒（その２） -- バイロン

Darkness II

And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought--and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails--men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer'd not with a caress--he died.
The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,
And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects--saw, and shriek'd, and died--
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless--
A lump of death--a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd
They slept on the abyss without a surge--
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them--She was the Universe.

By Lord Byron

暗黒（その２）

ほんのつかの間なかった戦争も再び
己の腹を満たし始めた。食糧は血で購われ
それぞれ不機嫌に分かれて
暗闇の中で貪った。もはや愛などなく
地球で残された唯一の思いは ―
目前の不名誉な死であった。
飢餓の苦痛が内臓を蝕み ― 人々は
死んでも肉も骨も葬らなかった。
痩せ衰えし者は痩せ衰えし者を貪り
犬も主人に襲いかかったが、ただ一匹の
犬は一人の死体には忠実であり
餓死寸前の鳥や獣や人を襲わなかった。
ついに飢えが人々に取りつき、倒れた死者が
弱々しい顎を誘った。犬には食物がなく
絶え間なく哀れな声でうめき
惨めな声で手を舐めて泣いても
撫でられることもなく ― 犬は死んだ。
次第に群衆は飢え始めた。だが二つの
大都市だけはかろうじて生き残ったが
住民は仇同士だった。彼らは祭壇を祭る
神聖なる場所の燃えかすのそばで出会い
神聖ならざる用途のために、神聖なる物が
積み上げられた。彼らはかき集め
震えながら、骨と皮の冷えきった手で
微かに残った火種を擦り取り、微かな息を
わずかの間吹きかけ、わずかばかりの
火をおこした。火が強くなり
たがいに顔を見合わせた瞬間 ― 悲鳴を上げ、息絶えた ―
たがいの醜悪さに驚き、彼らは死んだが
飢餓が印した仇敵の顔を気付かなかった。
世界には何も残らず、人口や勢力を誇る町も
季節も草も木も人も生命もない塊になった ―
死の塊 ― 混沌とした硬い粘土に。
川、湖、海に変化はなく
底をかき立てるものとてなかった。
船員の絶えた船は海上で朽ち果てた。
マストは少しずつ倒れかけ、崩れ落ちて
流れもない深淵に眠った ―
波は死んだ。潮は墓場の中
海の女王たる月はすでに息を引き取った。
風はよどんだ大気で衰え
雲は消えさった。暗黒には雲の助けなど
要らなかった　―　暗黒こそ宇宙だった。

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