第 65 节
作者:
乐乐陶陶 更新:2021-02-20 05:16 字数:9322
And fawn…like eyes still tremble as they glow。
From the Sanskrit of Calidasa
SIMPLEX MUNDITIIS
From 〃Epicoene〃
Still to be neat; still to be dressed
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powdered; still perfumed:
Lady; it is to be presumed;
Though art's hid causes are not found;
All is not sweet; all is not sound。
Give me a look; give me a face;
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing; hair as free:
Such sweet neglect more taketh me
Than all the adulteries of art;
They strike mine eyes; but not my heart。
Ben Jonson '1573?…1637'
DELIGHT IN DISORDER
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction:
An erring lace; which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher:
A cuff neglectful; and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly:
A winning wave; deserving note;
In the tempestuous petticoat:
A careless shoe…string; in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part。
Robert Herrick '1591…1674'
A PRAISE OF HIS LADY
Give place; you ladies; and begone!
Boast not yourselves at all!
For here at hand approacheth one
Whose face will stain you all。
The virtue of her lively looks
Excels the precious stone;
I wish to have none other books
To read or look upon。
In each of her two crystal eyes
Smileth a naked boy;
It would you all in heart suffice
To see that lamp of joy。
I think Nature hath lost the mould
Where she her shape did take;
Or else I doubt if Nature could
So fair a creature make。
She may be well compared
Unto the Phoenix kind;
Whose like was never seen nor heard;
That any man can find。
In life she is Diana chaste;
In truth Penelope;
In word and eke in deed steadfast。
What will you more we say?
If all the world were sought so far;
Who could find such a wight?
Her beauty twinkleth like a star
Within the frosty night。
Her roseal color comes and goes
With such a comely grace;
More ruddier; too; than doth the rose
Within her lively face。
At Bacchus' feast none shall her meet;
Nor at no wanton play;
Nor gazing in an open street;
Nor gadding as a stray。
The modest mirth that she doth use
Is mixed with shamefastness;
All vice she doth wholly refuse;
And hateth idleness。
O Lord! it is a world to see
How virtue can repair;
And deck her in such honesty;
Whom Nature made so fair。
Truly she doth so far exceed
Our women nowadays;
As doth the gillyflower a weed;
And more a thousand ways。
How might I do to get a graff
Of this unspotted tree?
For all the rest are plain but chaff;
Which seem good corn to be。
This gift alone I shall her give:
When death doth what he can;
Her honest fame shall ever live
Within the mouth of man。
John Heywood '1497?…1580?'
ON A CERTAIN LADY AT COURT
I know a thing that's most uncommon;
(Envy; be silent and attend!)
I know a reasonable woman;
Handsome and witty; yet a friend。
Not warped by passion; awed by rumor;
Not grave through pride; nor gay through folly;
An equal mixture of good…humor
And sensible soft melancholy。
〃Has she no faults then; (Envy says); Sir?〃
Yes; she has one; I must aver:
When all the world conspires to praise her;
The woman's deaf; and does not hear。
Alexander Pope '1688…1744'
PERFECT WOMAN
She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely apparition; sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like twilight's; too; her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May…time and the cheerful dawn;
A dancing shape; an image gay;
To haunt; to startle; and waylay。
I saw her upon nearer view;
A Spirit; yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and free;
And steps of virgin liberty;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records; promises as sweet;
A creature not too bright or good
For human nature's daily food;
For transient sorrows; simple wiles;
Praise; blame; love; kisses; tears; and smiles。
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath;
A traveller between life and death;
The reason firm; the temperate will;
Endurance; foresight; strength; and skill;
A perfect Woman; nobly planned;
To warn; to comfort; and command;
And yet a Spirit still; and bright
With something of angelic light。
William Wordsworth '1770…1850'
THE SOLITARY…HEARTED
She was a queen of noble Nature's crowning;
A smile of hers was like an act of grace;
She had no winsome looks; no pretty frowning;
Like daily beauties of the vulgar race:
But if she smiled; a light was on her face;
A clear; cool kindliness; a lunar beam
Of peaceful radiance; silvering o'er the stream
Of human thought with unabiding glory;
Not quite a waking truth; not quite a dream;
A visitation; bright and transitory。
But she is changed; … hath felt the touch of sorrow;
No love hath she; no understanding friend;
O grief! when Heaven is forced of earth to borrow
What the poor niggard earth has not to lend;
But when the stalk is snapped; the rose must bend。
The tallest flower that skyward rears its head
Grows from the common ground; and there must shed
Its delicate petals。 Cruel fate; too surely;
That they should find so base a bridal bed;
Who lived in virgin pride; so sweet and purely。
She had a brother; and a tender father;
And she was loved; but not as others are
From whom we ask return of love; … but rather
As one might love a dream; a phantom fair
Of something exquisitely strange and rare;
Which all were glad to look on; men and maids;
Yet no one claimed … as oft; in dewy glades;
The peering primrose; like a sudden gladness;
Gleams on the soul; yet unregarded fades; …
The joy is ours; but all its own the sadness。
'Tis vain to say … her worst of grief is only
The common lot; which all the world have known;
To her 'tis more; because her heart is lonely;
And yet she hath no strength to stand alone; …
Once she had playmates; fancies of her own;
And she did love them。 They are passed away
As Fairies vanish at the break of day;
And like a spectre of an age departed;
Or unsphered Angel wofully astray;
She glides along … the solitary…hearted。
Hartley Coleridge '1796…1849'
OF THOSE WHO WALK ALONE
Women there are on earth; most sweet and high;
Who lose their own; and walk bereft and lonely;
Loving that one lost heart until they die;
Loving it only。
And so they never see beside them grow
Children; whose coming is like breath of flowers;
Consoled by subtler loves the angels know
Through childless hours。
Good deeds they do: they comfort and they bless
In duties others put off till the morrow;
Their look is balm; their touch is tenderness
To all in sorrow。
Betimes the world smiles at them; as 'twere shame;
This maiden guise; long after youth's departed;
But in God's Book they bear another name …
〃The faithful…hearted。〃
Faithful in life; and faithful unto death;
Such souls; in sooth; illume with lustre splendid
That glimpsed; glad land wherein; the Vision saith;
Earth's wrongs are ended。
Richard Burton '1861…
〃SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY〃
She walks in beauty; like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies。
One shade the more; one ray the less;
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure; how dear their dwelling…place。
And on that cheek; and o'er that brow
So soft; so calm; yet eloquent;
The smiles that win; the tints that glow;
But tell of days in goodness spent;
A mind at peace with all below;
A heart whose love is innocent!
George Gordon Byron '1788…1824'
PRELUDES
From 〃The Angel in the House〃
I
UNTHRIFT
Ah; wasteful woman; she that may
On her sweet self set her own price;
Knowing man cannot choose but pay;
How has she cheapened paradise;
How given for nought her priceless gift;
How spoiled the bread; and spilled the wine;
Which; spent with due; respective thrift;
Had made brutes men; and men divine。
II
HONOR AND DESERT
O Queen; awake to thy renown;
Require what 'tis our wealth to give;
And comprehend and wear the crown
Of thy despised prerogative!
I; who in manhood's name at length
With glad songs come to abdicate
The gross regality of strength;
Must yet in this thy praise abate;
That; through thine erring humbleness
And disregard o