I Saw in Louisiana A Live-Oak Growing
                                                    Whitman Walt

I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it
And the moss bung down from the branches ,
Without any companion it grew there
Uttering joyous leaves of dark green,

And its look, rude, unbending, lusty,
Made me think of myself,
But I wondered how it could utter joyous leaves
Standing alone there without its
friend near, for I knew I could not,

And I broke off a twig
With a certain number of leaves upon it,
And twined around it a  little moss,
And brought it away,
And have placed it in sight in my room.

It is not needed to remind me as of my own  dear friends ,
(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them)
Yet it remains to me a curious token,
It makes  me think of manly love;
For all that, end though the live-oak glistens there
In Louisians solitary in a wide flat  space,
Uttering joyous leaves all its life
Without a friend a lover near,
I know very well I could not.

译文：

我在路易斯安那看见一棵橡树在生长，
它孑然而立，枝条上挂满青苔，
它没有伴侣，却依然长着浓绿而又欢快的叶子。

那狂放、不屈、旺盛的样子使我想到自己，
但是我想知道它如何可以孤零零站着，身边没有朋友，
却依旧如长出欢快十足的叶子，因为我知道我做不到。

于是我折下一段小枝，上面有一些叶子，
周围还附着少许青苔，
我把它带回了家，放在房里显眼的位置。

我不需要它来提醒我有亲密的朋友，
（我相信最近除了他们我很少想到别的事）
但它对于我仍是个不寻常的象征，它使我想起坦率的爱情；
尽管如此，这橡树在路易斯安那一片空旷的平地上孤独地闪烁，
附近没有一个朋友和爱人照样一年年长出非常欢快的叶子，
我知道我做不到。

【作者简介】
瓦尔特·惠特曼（Walt Whitman，1819一1892），美国著名诗人。
《我在路易斯安那看见一棵橡树在生长》礼赞橡树战胜孤独，在逆境
中奋发向上的精神。代表作品 《草叶集》(1855年），用非传统的韵
律和韵文写成。