Sullivan Ballou绝笔情书 (转载)# LeisureTime - 读书听歌看电影
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古今情书绝代精品之一，转来与各位分享。
发信人: NWWolf (西北の狼), 信区: MiddleSchool
标 题: Sullivan Ballou绝笔情书
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Sun Jun 7 03:53:56 2009, 美东)
在密版谈起Ken Burns为PBS拍的《The Civil War》，忽然想起片中提到
Sullivan Ballou少校的绝笔情书，不知版上各位童鞋熟悉否？一百五十年
过后，其文字感召力不减当年。
The final letter of Maj. Sullivan Ballou, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers,
to his wife Sarah Shumway Ballou, written a week before he was killed
in the first battle of Bull Run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa2hv8U8cWU
The abridged version of the letter, as read in the TV series, is as
follows:
July 14,1861
Camp Clark, Washington, D.C.
Dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—
perhaps tomorrow. And lest I should not be able to write you again
I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when
I am no more.
I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in
which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know
how American civilization now leans upon the triumph of the
government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before
us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing
—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain
this government, and to pay that debt.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty
cables that nothing but omnipotence can break; and yet my love of
Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly
with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful
moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel
most deeply grateful to God and you, that I have enjoyed them for so
long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the
hopes and future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived
and loved together, and see our boys grown up to honorable manhood
around us.
If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you,
nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will
whisper your name... Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I
have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been!
...
But, O Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen
around those they love, I shall always be with you, in the brightest day
and in the darkest night... always, always. And when the soft breeze
fans your cheek, it shall be my breath, or the cool air your throbbing
temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we
shall meet again...
发信人: NWWolf (西北の狼), 信区: MiddleSchool
标 题: Sullivan Ballou绝笔情书
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Sun Jun 7 03:53:56 2009, 美东)
在密版谈起Ken Burns为PBS拍的《The Civil War》，忽然想起片中提到
Sullivan Ballou少校的绝笔情书，不知版上各位童鞋熟悉否？一百五十年
过后，其文字感召力不减当年。
The final letter of Maj. Sullivan Ballou, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers,
to his wife Sarah Shumway Ballou, written a week before he was killed
in the first battle of Bull Run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa2hv8U8cWU
The abridged version of the letter, as read in the TV series, is as
follows:
July 14,1861
Camp Clark, Washington, D.C.
Dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—
perhaps tomorrow. And lest I should not be able to write you again
I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when
I am no more.
I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in
which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know
how American civilization now leans upon the triumph of the
government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before
us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing
—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain
this government, and to pay that debt.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty
cables that nothing but omnipotence can break; and yet my love of
Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly
with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful
moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel
most deeply grateful to God and you, that I have enjoyed them for so
long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the
hopes and future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived
and loved together, and see our boys grown up to honorable manhood
around us.
If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you,
nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will
whisper your name... Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I
have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been!
...
But, O Sarah, if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen
around those they love, I shall always be with you, in the brightest day
and in the darkest night... always, always. And when the soft breeze
fans your cheek, it shall be my breath, or the cool air your throbbing
temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we
shall meet again...
