A week before the Battle of Bull Run (also known as Manassas), Sullivan Ballou, a major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife in Smithfield.

在布尔朗战役（又称马那萨斯战役）开始的一周前，罗德岛第二志愿队的沙利文·巴卢少校给他在史密斯菲尔德家中的妻子写了一下这封信。

My very dear Sarah,

Indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days perhaps tomorrow. 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 shall be 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 strongly American civilization now leans on 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 could break. And yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly, with all these chains, to the battlefield.

The memories 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 so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us…

If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love 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, oh 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 days and in the darkest nights. Always. Always.

And when the soft breeze fans your cheeks, it shall be my breath; and as the cool air fans 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.

Notes:

1) indication 指示

2) lest 唯恐，免得（在被连接的状语从句里常用should或原型动词）

3) impel: vt 促使，迫成

4) misgiving: 忧虑，担忧，害怕

5) halt: vi. 停止前进，停止

6) falter: vi. 踌躇，犹豫，畏缩

7) omnipotence: n. 无所不在

8) blissful: a. 极乐的

9) flit: vi. 掠过，迅速飞去

10) throbbing: a. 跳动的，（有规律的）颤动的

（我最亲爱的莎拉：
任务十分紧迫，部队将在数天内开拔，也许就是在明天。我觉得很有必要给你写几句话，以免今后我再没有机会给你写信。这样，当我离去的时候，信就会出现在你的眼前。
　　对于我所投身的事业，我没有丝毫的忧虑与害怕或是缺乏任何的信心。我的勇气也没有丝毫的减弱停止或犹豫畏缩。我深切地懂得美国文明现在就寄托在政府的胜利上。比起那些甘愿为革命抛头颅、洒热血的先烈们，我们所欠真是太多。我希望--我衷心地希望 --抛却我所有的欢乐来维护政府和偿还债务…… ……）

　（莎拉，我对你的爱永无止尽。它仿佛是一种坚实的锁链将我牢牢地缚住，只有那全能的主才能将它摧毁。但是，我对祖国的热爱却似一阵猛烈的强风，将我连同这些锁链一起吹向了战场。）

（和你一起度过的所有欢乐时光的记忆如潮水般涌上心头，我为拥有许多那样的日子而感激上帝，感激你。要让我忘却这些记忆，要让我抛却未来的希望都是多么的困难--如果上帝保佑，我们将来能够恩爱地生活在一起，看着我们的儿子能在身边长大成人……
如果我没有回来，我亲爱的莎拉，请不要忘记我是多么的爱你。战场上我即使还剩最后一口气，我也将低唤你的名字。原谅我许多的过错和我给你造成的许多伤害。有时我是多么的疏忽、多么的愚蠢、多么的没有头脑啊。）

（但是，呵，莎拉！如果故去的人能够重回这个星球，并且无声无息、无影无踪地飞绕于他们所爱的人的周围，我将在最晴朗的白天和最暗淡的黑夜时时守候在你的身旁。时时刻刻，直到永远。
当轻柔的风儿拂过你的脸颊，那一定是我的呼吸；当凉爽的风儿掠过你的鬓角，那将是我路过的魂灵。莎拉，不要为我的死而悲伤：只要想着我走了。等着我，因为我们还会再相逢。）