*14.EEB
第十四首
Elizabeth Barrett Browning _Sonnets from the Portuguese_, No. XIV
如果你一心要十爱十我,那就别为了么,
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
只是为了十爱十才十爱十我。别这么讲:
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
“我十爱十她,为了她的一笑,她的模样,
`I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way
她柔语的声气;为了她这感触
Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought
正好合我的心意,那天里,的确
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought [certes: certainly]
给我带来满怀的喜悦和舒畅。”
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day' --
亲十爱十的,这些好处都不能持常,
For these things in themselves, Belov\`ed, may
会因你而变,而这样唱出的十爱十曲
Be changed, or change for thee, -- and love, so wrought [wrought: worked]
也将这样哑寂。也别十爱十我因为你
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
又怜又惜地给我揩干了泪腮,
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry, --
一个人会忘了哭泣,当她久受你
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
温柔的慰安--却因此失了你的十爱十。
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
十爱十我,请只是为了那十爱十的意念,
But love for love's sake, that evermore
那你就能继续地十爱十,十爱十我如深海。
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.
Footnote:
This sonnet is little more than a copy of the following poem
which some two and a half centuries earlier.
Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Nor for any outward part,
No, nor for my constant heart, --
For those may fail, or turn to ill,
So thou and I shall sever:
Keep therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why --
So hast thou the same reason still
To doat upon me ever!
ANON.
Source: The Golden Treasury of The Best Songs and Lyrical Poems
In The English Language, Oxford University Press, 1929.