I. The Burial of the Dead（死者之葬礼）
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
【注】开篇颠覆了乔叟《坎特伯雷故事》序诗的"四月甘霖"——在荒原上，春天的复苏反而是一种残忍。
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in winter.
【注】"我根本不是俄罗斯人，我来自立陶宛，我是真正的德国人。"——碎片化的记忆，暗示欧洲贵族世界的瓦解。
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
【注】"人子啊"引自《以西结书》——先知在废墟中呼喊，这里变成了荒原的自我告白。"一把尘土中的恐惧"成为全诗最著名的意象之一。
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu.
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
【注】引自瓦格纳《特里斯坦与伊索尔德》——水手的思乡之歌，但"家乡"在此已不存在。
"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
They called me the hyacinth girl."
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Oed' und leer das Meer.
【注】"海面上荒凉而空旷"——再次引用《特里斯坦》，暗示爱情的不可能。"风信子女孩"的记忆是一种失去的伊甸园。
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.
【注】马丹·索索特里斯的塔罗牌预言了全诗的主题：溺死的腓尼基水手、被绞死的人（生育神话的牺牲者）、"小心溺水"的警告。
Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his foot.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: "Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to man,
Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!"
【注】"不真实的城市"引自波德莱尔《恶之花》。伦敦桥上的死人队列——但丁《地狱篇》第三歌的回响。"你！伪善的读者！——我的同类！——我的兄弟！"直接引用波德莱尔，将读者也拉入荒原。
II. A Game of Chess（一局棋）
The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Glowed on the marble, where the glass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines
From which a golden Cupidon peeped out
(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra
Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion.
【注】开头模仿《安东尼与克莉奥佩特拉》第二幕第二场——莎士比亚笔下爱的奢华在此变成了中产阶级客厅的窒息。
"My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak.
What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
I never know what you are thinking. Think."
【注】现代婚姻的空洞对话——言语在重复中失去了意义。
III. The Fire Sermon（火诫）
The river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.
And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors;
Departed, have left no addresses.
【注】"甜蜜的泰晤士河，轻轻流淌，直到我唱完我的歌"——引自斯宾塞《婚前曲》，但伊丽莎白时代的田园世界已变成了垃圾漂浮的现代河流。
The time is now propitious, as he guesses,
The meal is ended, she is bored and tired,
Endeavours to engage her in caresses
Which still are unreproved, if undesired.
Flushed and decided, he assaults at once;
Exploring hands encounter no defence;
His vanity requires no response,
And makes a welcome of indifference.
【注】打字员与小职员的性行为——现代欲望的机械性，没有激情也没有抗拒。
IV. Death by Water（水中的死亡）
Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
【注】仅十行——腓尼基水手的溺亡。这是对死亡的纯粹凝视，没有救赎，只有海流。
V. What the Thunder Said（雷霆的话）
After the torchlight red on sweaty faces
After the frosty silence in the gardens
After the agony in stony places
The shouting and the crying
Prison and palace and reverberation
Of thunder of spring over distant mountains
He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience.
【注】前三行的节奏模仿了耶稣在客西马尼园的受难——"之后"反复出现，如同仪式性的痛苦序列。
Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
【注】干渴——精神的干渴比肉体的干渴更可怕。
Datta: what have we given?
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment's surrender
Which on its age of prudence can never be unpractised
Only by a draught of the compound of the counter poison
【注】"Datta"——梵语"给予"，出自《奥义书》。三个训诫：给予、同情、克制——雷霆的命令，但人类能否做到？
Shall I at least set my lands in order?
London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down
Poi s'ascose nel foco che gli affina
Quando fiam uti chelidon—O swallow swallow
Le Prince d'Aquitaine à la tour abolie
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo's mad againe.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih
【注】结尾的碎片：伦敦桥塌了、但丁《炼狱篇》的藏身于火、古法语行吟诗人的燕子、废弃的塔楼中的阿基坦亲王（奈瓦尔）、《西班牙悲剧》中疯了的希罗尼莫。最后，"给予。同情。克制。"——以及《奥义书》的结语："平安。平安。平安。"
注释
全诗引用与互文索引（主要来源）：