第 20 节
作者:向前      更新:2021-02-20 05:46      字数:9321
  s! to the tombs! to the still Sacred River! Where I too; the child of a day that is done; First leaped into life; and look'd up at the sun; Back again; back again; to the hill…tops of home I come; O my friend; my consoler; I come! Are the three intense stars; that we watch'd night by night Burning broad on the band of Orion; as bright? Are the large Indian moons as serene as of old; When; as children; we gather'd the moonbeams for gold? Do you yet recollect me; my friend?  Do you still Remember the free games we play'd on the hill; 'Mid those huge stones up…heav'd; where we recklessly trod O'er the old ruin'd fane of the old ruin'd god? How he frown'd while around him we carelessly play'd! That frown on my life ever after hath stay'd; Like the shade of a solemn experience upcast From some vague supernatural grief in the past。 For the poor god; in pain; more than anger; he frown'd; To perceive that our youth; though so fleeting; had found; In its transient and ignorant gladness; the bliss Which his science divine seem'd divinely to miss。 Alas! you may haply remember me yet The free child; whose glad childhood myself I forget。 I comea sad woman; defrauded of rest: I bear to you only a laboring breast: My heart is a storm…beaten ark; wildly hurl'd O'er the whirlpools of time; with the wrecks of a world: The dove from my bosom hath flown far away: It is flown and returns not; though many a day Have I watch'd from the windows of life for its coming。 Friend; I sigh for repose; I am weary of roaming。 I know not what Ararat rises for me Far away; o'er the waves of the wandering sea: I know not what rainbow may yet; from far hills; Lift the promise of hope; the cessation of ills: But a voice; like the voice of my youth; in my breast Wakes and whispers me onto the East! to the East! Shall I find the child's heart that I left there? or find The lost youth I recall with its pure peace of mind? Alas! who shall number the drops of the rain? Or give to the dead leaves their greenness again? Who shall seal up the caverns the earthquake hath rent? Who shall bring forth the winds that within them are pent? To a voice who shall render an image? or who From the heats of the noontide shall gather the dew? I have burn'd out within me the fuel of life。 Wherefore lingers the flame?  Rest is sweet after strife。 I would sleep for a while。  I am weary。                                         〃My friend; I had meant in these lines to regather; and send To our old home; my life's scatter'd links。  But 'tis vain! Each attempt seems to shatter the chaplet again; Only fit now for fingers like mine to run o'er; Who return; a recluse; to those cloisters of yore Whence too far I have wander'd。                                 〃How many long years Does it seem to me now since the quick; scorching tears; While I wrote to you; splash'd out a girl's premature Moans of pain at what women in silence endure! To your eyes; friend of mine; and to your eyes alone; That now long…faded page of my life hath been shown Which recorded my heart's birth; and death; as you know; Many years since;how many!                              〃A few months ago I seem'd reading it backward; that page!  Why explain Whence or how?  The old dream of my life rose again。 The old superstition! the idol of old! It is over。  The leaf trodden down in the mould Is not to the forest more lost than to me That emotion。  I bury it here by the sea Which will bear me anon far away from the shore Of a land which my footsteps will visit no more。 And a heart's requiescat I write on that grave。 Hark! the sigh of the wind; and the sound of the wave; Seem like voices of spirits that whisper me home! I come; O you whispering voices; I come! My friend; ask me nothing。                            〃Receive me alone As a Santon receives to his dwelling of stone In silence some pilgrim the midnight may bring: It may be an angel that; weary of wing; Hath paused in his flight from some city of doom; Or only a wayfarer stray'd in the gloom。 This only I know: that in Europe at least Lives the craft or the power that must master our East。 Wherefore strive where the gods must themselves yield at last? Both they and their altars pass by with the Past。 The gods of the household Time thrust from the shelf; And I seem as unreal and weird to myself As those idols of old。                         〃Other times; other men; Other men; other passions!                            〃So be it! yet again I turned to my birthplace; the birthplace of morn; And the light of those lands where the great sun is born! Spread your arms; O my friend! on your breast let me feel The repose which hath fled from my own。                                         〃Your LUCILE。〃
  PART II。
  CANTO I。
  I。
  Hail; Muse!  But each Muse by this time has; I know; Been used up; and Apollo has bent his own bow All too long; so I leave unassaulted the portal Of Olympus; and only invoke here a mortal。
  Hail; Murray!not Lindley;but Murray and Son。 Hail; omniscient; beneficent; great Two…in…One! In Albermarle Street may thy temple long stand! Long enlighten'd and led by thine erudite hand; May each novice in science nomadic unravel Statistical mazes of modernized travel! May each inn…keeper knave long thy judgment revere; And the postboys of Europe regard thee with fear; While they feel; in the silence of baffled extortion; That knowledge is power!  Long; long; like that portion Of the national soil which the Greek exile took In his baggage wherever he went; may thy book Cheer each poor British pilgrim; who trusts to thy wit Not to pay through his nose just for following it! May'st thou long; O instructor! preside o'er his way; And teach him alike what to praise and to pay! Thee; pursuing this pathway of song; once again I invoke; lest; unskill'd; I should wander in vain。 To my call be propitious; nor; churlish; refuse Thy great accents to lend to the lips of my Muse; For I sing of the Naiads who dwell 'mid the stems Of the green linden…trees by the waters of Ems。 Yes! thy spirit descends upon mine; O John Murray! And I startwith thy bookfor the Baths in a hurry。
  II。
  〃At Coblentz a bridge of boats crosses the Rhine; And from thence the road; winding by Ehrenbreitstein; Passes over the frontier of Nassua。                                     (〃N。 B。 No custom…house here since the Zollverein。〃  See Murray; paragraph 30。)                         〃The route; at each turn; Here the lover of nature allows to discern; In varying prospect; a rich wooded dale: The vine and acacia…tree mostly prevail In the foliage observable here: and; moreover; The soil is carbonic。  The road; under cover Of the grape…clad and mountainous upland that hems Round this beautiful spot; brings the traveller to〃EMS。 A Schnellpost from Frankfort arrives every day。 At the Kurhaus (the old Ducal mansion) you pay Eight florins for lodgings。  A Restaurateur Is attach'd to the place; but most travellers prefer (Including; indeed; many persons of note) To dine at the usual…priced table d'hote。 Through the town runs the Lahn; the steep green banks of which Two rows of white picturesque houses enrich; And between the high road and the river is laid Out a sort of a garden; call'd 'THE Promenade。' Female visitors here; who may make up their mind To ascend to the top of these mountains; will find On the banks of the stream; saddled all the day long; Troops of donkeyssure…footedproverbially strong;〃 And the traveller at Ems may remark; as he passes; Here; as elsewhere; the women run after the asses。
  III。
  'Mid the world's weary denizens bound for these springs In the month when the merle on the maple…bough sings; Pursued to the place from dissimilar paths By a similar sickness; there came to the Baths Four suffererseach stricken deep through the heart; Or the head; by the self…same invisible dart Of the arrow that flieth unheard in the noon; From the sickness that walketh unseen in the moon; Through this great lazaretto of life; wherein each Infects with his own sores the next within reach。 First of these were a young English husband and wife; Grown weary ere half through the journey of life。 O Nature; say where; thou gray mother of earth; Is the strength of thy youth? that thy womb brings to birth Only old men to…day!  On the winds; as of old; Thy voice in its accent is joyous and bold; Thy forests are green as of yore; and thine oceans Yet move in the might of their ancient emotions: But manthy last birth and thy bestis no more Life's free lord; that look'd up to the starlight of yore; With the faith on the brow; and the fire in the eyes; The firm foot on the earth; the high heart in the skies; But a gray…headed infant; defrauded of youth; Born too late or too early。                              The lady; in truth; Was young; fair; and gentle; and never was given To more heavenly eyes the pure azure of heaven。 Never yet did the sun touch to ripples of gold Tresses brighter than those which her soft hand unroll'd From her noble and innocent brow; when she rose; An Aurora; at dawn; from her balmy repose; And into the mirror the bloom and the blush Of her beauty broke; glowing; like light in a gush From the sunrise in summer。                             Love; roaming; shall meet But rarely