恐惧，就像一团只有死亡才有一天会熄灭的火焰，现在在埃文?我们亲眼目睹了一个同性恋朋友的入侵，我们对他几乎是熟识的记忆，除了恐惧，他还没有别的名字。另一个人比雅芳至少会给我们一个无用的机会来表达我们可能会后悔。但雅芳，自从那件事发生后，他沉默寡言我们看到的死亡之火可怕地吞噬了他，而他却瘫倒在地，一言不发。多少次，我在预料之中的边缘徘徊，一次又一次，陷入黑暗和混乱之中，被他委婉的拒绝，最后我的沉默使他感到荣幸，避免了一种无端的侵扰，这种侵扰可能会扩大一个新的距离，如果不是那么新的距离，已经足够宽了。但在空间上似乎有相似之处，它们可能在时间上汇合;我就这样与亚文同行、与他争战、与他思想。他为某某人辨是非、或杀什么人。他的名字还是老样子，但有了新的不同。在埃文，我们所记得的那个人，过去是，将来也不会像他那样;一直以来，我们看到他眼中的火焰在燃烧，却没有瞥见那里燃烧的是什么。就这样过了一年; and so it went For half another year?when, all at once, At someone?s tinkling afternoon at home I saw that in the eyes of Avon?s wife The fire that I had met the day before In his had found another living fuel. To look at her and then to think of him, And thereupon to contemplate the fall Of a dim curtain over the dark end Of a dark play, required of me no more Clairvoyance than a man who cannot swim Will exercise in seeing that his friend Off shore will drown except he save himself. To her I could say nothing, and to him No more than tallied with a long belief That I should only have it back again For my chagrin to ruminate upon, Ingloriously, for the still time it starved; And that would be for me as long a time As I remembered Avon?who is yet Not quite forgotten. On the other hand, For saying nothing I might have with me always An injured and recriminating ghost Of a dead friend. The more I pondered it The more I knew there was not much to lose, Albeit for one whose delving hitherto Had been a forage of his own affairs, The quest, however golden the reward, Was irksome?and as Avon suddenly And soon was driven to let me see, was needless. It seemed an age ago that we were there One evening in the room that in the days When they could laugh he called the Library. ?He calls it that, you understand,? she said, ?Because the dictionary always lives here. He?s not a man of books, yet he can read, And write. He learned it all at school.??He smiled, And answered with a fervor that rang then Superfluous: ?Had I learned a little more At school, it might have been as well for me.? And I remember now that he paused then, Leaving a silence that one had to break. But this was long ago, and there was now No laughing in that house. We were alone This time, and it was Avon?s time to talk. I waited, and anon became aware That I was looking less at Avon?s eyes Than at the dictionary, like one asking Already why we make so much of words That have so little weight in the true balance. ?Your name is Resignation for an hour,? He said; ?and I?m a little sorry for you. So be resigned. I shall not praise your work, Or strive in any way to make you happy. My purpose only is to make you know How clearly I have known that you have known There was a reason waited on your coming, And, if it?s in me to see clear enough, To fish the reason out of a black well Where you see only a dim sort of glimmer That has for you no light.? ?I see the well,? I said, ?but there?s a doubt about the glimmer? Say nothing of the light. I?m at your service; And though you say that I shall not be happy, I shall be if in some way I may serve. To tell you fairly now that I know nothing Is nothing more than fair.???You know as much As any man alive?save only one man, If he?s alive. Whether he lives or not Is rather for time to answer than for me; And that?s a reason, or a part of one, For your appearance here. You do not know him, And even if you should pass him in the street He might go by without your feeling him Between you and the world. I cannot say Whether he would, but I suppose he might.? ?And I suppose you might, if urged,? I said, ?Say in what water it is that we are fishing. You that have reasons hidden in a well, Not mentioning all your nameless friends that walk The streets and are not either d