这是一首散文诗，最初是用德文发表在《巴伐利亚历书》上，后来才在丹麦的刊物《学校与家庭》上发表。“墓碑”代表一对老夫妇所度过的一生，很平凡，但也充满了美和善。墓碑虽然流落到他方，作为铺路石之用，但这并不说明：“一切东西都会被遗忘了！”同样，人生将会在新的一代传续下去，被永远地记忆着。“美和善的东西是永远不会给遗忘的，它在传说和歌谣中将获得永恒的生命。”
The Old GraveStone老墓碑
IN a house，with a large courtyard，in a provincial town，at that time of the year in which people say the evenings are growing longer，a family circle were gathered together at their old home. A lamp burned on the table，although the weather was mild and warm，and the long curtains hung down before the open windows，and without the moon shone brightly in the darkblue sky.
在一个小乡镇里，有一个人自己拥有一幢房子。有一天晚上，他全家的人围坐在一起。那时正是一年中夜变长的季节。这种时刻既温暖，又舒适。灯亮了，长长的窗帘拉下来了。窗子上摆着许多花盆，轮皓月挂在黑幕般的夜空中。
But they were not talking of the moon，but of a large，old stone that lay below in the courtyard not very far from the kitchen door. The maids often laid the clean copper saucepanssaucepan n.长柄而有盖子的深锅，炖锅 and kitchen vessels on this stone，that they might dry in the sun，and the children were fond of playing on it. It was，in fact，an old gravestone.
不过他们并不是在谈论月亮。他们是在谈论着一块古老的大石头。这块石头躺在院子里，紧靠着厨房门旁边。女佣人常常把擦过了的铜制的用具放在上面晒，孩子们也喜欢在上面玩耍。事实上它是一个古老的墓碑。
“Yes，” said the master of the house，“I believe the stone came from the graveyard of the old church of the convent which was pulled down，and the pulpitpulpit n.（教堂的）讲道坛，the monuments，and the gravestones sold. My father bought the latter，most of them were cut in two and used for pavingstones，but that one stone was preserved whole，and laid in the courtyard.”
“是的，”房子的主人说，“我相信它是从那个拆除了的老修道院搬来的。人们把里面的宣讲台、纪念牌和墓碑全都卖了！我去世了的父亲买了好几块墓石，每块都打断了，当做铺道石用，不过这块墓石留下来了，一直躺在院子那儿没有动。”
“Any one can see that it is a gravestone，” said the eldest of the children，“the representationrepresentation n.表示法，表现，陈述，请求，扮演，画像，继承，代表 of an hourglass and part of the figure of an angel can still be traced，but the inscription beneath is quite worn out，excepting the name ‘Preben’，and a large ‘S’ close by it，and a little farther down the name of ‘Martha’ can be easily read. But nothing more，and even that cannot be seen unless it has been raining，or when we have washed the stone.”
“人们一眼就可以看出，这是一块墓石，”最大的一个孩子说，“我们仍然可以看出它上面刻得有一个滴漏和一个安琪儿的片断。不过它上面的字差不多全都模糊了，只剩下卜列本这个名字和后边的一个大字母S，以及离名字下面不远处点的‘玛尔塔’！此外什么东西也看不见了。只有在下了雨，或者当我们把它洗净了以后，我们才能看得清楚。”
“Dear me！ how singular. What that must be the gravestone of Preben Schwane and his wife.” The old man who said this looked old enough to be the grandfather of all present in the room.
“天哪，这就是卜列本·斯万尼和他妻子的墓石！”一个老人插进来说。他是那么老，简直可以作为这所房子里所有人的祖父。
“Yes，” he continued，“these people were among the last who were buried in the churchyard of the old convent. They were a very worthy old couple，I can remember them well in the days of my boyhood. Every one knew them，and they were esteemedesteem vt.把…看作，尊敬，尊重，认为n.尊敬，尊重 by all. They were the oldest residents in the town，and people said they possessed a ton of gold，yet they were always very plainly dressed，in the coarsest stuff，but with linen of the purest whiteness. Preben and Martha were a fine old couple，and when they both sat on the bench，at the top of the steep stone steps，in front of their house，with the branches of the lindentree waving above them，and nodded in a gentle，friendly way to passers by，it really made one feel quite happy. They were very good to the poor，they fed them and clothed them，and in their benevolencebenevolence n.仁爱心，善行 there was judgment as well as true Christianity.
“是的，他们是最后埋在这个老修道院墓地里的一对夫妇。他们从我小时起记得也就是一对老好人。大家都认识他们，大家都尊敬他们。他们是这小城里的一对元老。大家都说他们所有的金子一个桶也装不完。但是他们穿的衣服却非常朴素，总是粗料子做的；不过他们的桌布、被单等总是雪白的。他们——卜列本和玛尔塔——是一对可爱的夫妇！当他们坐在屋子面前那个很高的石台阶上的一条凳子上时，老菩提树就把枝子罩在他们头上；他们和善地、温柔地对你点着头——这使你感到愉快。他们对穷人非常好，给他们饭吃，给他们衣服穿。他们的慈善行为充分地表示出他们的善意和基督精神。
“The old woman died first，that day is still quite vividly before my eyes. I was a little boy，and had accompanied my father to the old mans house. Martha had fallen into the sleep of death just as we arrived there. The corpse lay in a bedroom，near to the one in which we sat，and the old man was in great distressdistress n.悲痛，穷困，不幸，危难，忧伤v.使悲痛，使穷困，使忧伤 and weeping like a child. He spoke to my father，and to a few neighbors who were there，of how lonely he should feel now she was gone，and how good and true she，his dead wife，had been during the number of years that they had passed through life together，and how they had become acquaintedacquainted adj.有知识的，知晓的，and learnt to love each other.
“太太先去世！那一天我记得清清楚楚。我那时是一个很小的孩子，跟着爸爸一起到老卜列本家里去，那时她刚刚合上眼睛，这老头儿非常难过，哭得像一个小孩子。她的尸体还放在睡房里，离我们现在坐的这地方不远。他那时对我的爸爸和几个邻人说，他此后将会多么孤独，她曾经多么好，他们曾经怎样在一起生活了多少年，他们是怎样认识的，然后又怎样相爱起来。