(又名：敞开的炉火)

灯光照耀在街道上：
有那脚步微弱的声响；
深蓝的夜幕缓缓落下
笼罩了花园的树和墙。

此时阴暗正在降临
空屋涂上了炉火的红光：
它温暖的映在棚顶，
犹如在书页上来回摇晃。

军队行进过平塔和尖塔
城市在火中燃烧发光；---
我双眼凝视直到那，
军队消失了连同着火光。

然后又一次发光闪亮；
重现城市燃烧的影象；
看哪！在那红热的谷底，
幻想的军队正在行进！

闪烁的余烬告诉我真实
那就是军队行进的地方，
燃烧的军队是什么
它破碎在我的炉膛！

Armies in the Fire
(Open fires)

The lamps now glitter down the street:
Faintly sound the falling feet;
And the blue even slowly falls
About the garden trees and walls.

Now in the falling of the gloom
The red fire paints the empty room:
And warmly on the roof it looks,
And flickers on the back of books.

Armies march by tower and spire
Of cities blazing, in the fire;--
Till as I gaze with staring eyes,
The armies fall, the lustre dies.

Then once again the glow returns;
Again the phantom city burns;
And down the red-hot valley, lo!
The phantom armies marching go!

Blinking embers, tell me true
Where are those armies marching to,
And what the burning city is
That crumbles in your furnaces!

--- By Robert Louis Stevenson