第 22 节
作者:
京文 更新:2021-12-07 09:25 字数:9321
Haste; haste away!…
Castor has tamed the planet Lion; see!
And of the Bear has Pollux mastery:
A third is in the race! who is the third
Speeding away swift as the eagle bird?
The ramping Centaur!
The Lion's mane's on end: the Bear how fierce!
The Centaur's arrow ready seems to pierce
Some enemy: far forth his bow is bent
Into the blue of heaven。 He'll be shent;
Pale unrelentor;
When he shall hear the wedding lutes a playing。…
Andromeda! sweet woman! why delaying
So timidly among the stars: come hither!
Join this bright throng; and nimbly follow whither
They all are going。
Danae's Son; before Jove newly bow'd;
Has wept for thee; calling to Jove aloud。
Thee; gentle lady; did he disenthral:
Ye shall for ever live and love; for all
Thy tears are flowing。…
By Daphne's fright; behold Apollo!…〃
More
Endymion heard not: down his steed him bore;
Prone to the green head of a misty hill。
His first touch of the earth went nigh to kill。
〃Alas!〃 said he; 〃were I but always borne
Through dangerous winds; had but my footsteps worn
A path in hell; for ever would I bless
Horrors which nourish an uneasiness
For my own sullen conquering: to him
Who lives beyond earth's boundary; grief is dim;
Sorrow is but a shadow: now I see
The grass; I feel the solid ground… Ah; me!
It is thy voice… divinest! Where?… who? who
Left thee so quiet on this bed of dew?
Behold upon this happy earth we are;
Let us aye love each other; let us fare
On forest…fruits; and never; never go
Among the abodes of mortals here below;
Or be by phantoms duped。 O destiny!
Into a labyrinth now my soul would fly;
But with thy beauty will I deaden it。
Where didst thou melt to? By thee will I sit
For ever: let our fate stop here… a kid
I on this spot will offer: Pan will bid
Us live in peace; in love and peace among
His forest wildernesses。 I have clung
To nothing; lov'd a nothing; nothing seen
Or felt but a great dream! O I have been
Presumptuous against love; against the sky;
Against all elements; against the tie
Of mortals each to each; against the blooms
Of flowers; rush of rivers; and the tombs
Of heroes gone! Against his proper glory
Has my own soul conspired: so my story
Will I to children utter; and repent。
There never liv'd a mortal man; who bent
His appetite beyond his natural sphere;
But starv'd and died。 My sweetest Indian; here;
Here will I kneel; for thou redeemed hast
My life from too thin breathing: gone and past
Are cloudy phantasms。 Caverns lone; farewell!
And air of visions; and the monstrous swell
Of visionary seas! No; never more
Shall airy voices cheat me to the shore
Of tangled wonder; breathless and aghast。
Adieu; my daintiest Dream! although so vast
My love is still for thee。 The hour may come
When we shall meet in pure elysium。
On earth I may not love thee; and therefore
Doves will I offer up; and sweetest store
All through the teeming year: so thou wilt shine
On me; and on this damsel fair of mine;
And bless our silver lives。 My Indian bliss!
My river…lilly bud! one human kiss!
One sigh of real breath… one gentle squeeze;
Warm as a dove's nest among summer trees;
And warm with dew at ooze from living blood!
Whither didst melt? Ah; what of that!… all good
We'll talk about… no more of dreaming。… Now;
Where shall our dwelling be? Under the brow
Of some steep mossy hill; where ivy dun
Would hide us up; although spring leaves were none;
And where dark yew trees; as we rustle through;
Will drop their scarlet berry cups of dew?
O thou wouldst joy to live in such a place;
Dusk for our loves; yet light enough to grace
Those gentle limbs on mossy bed reclin'd:
For by one step the blue sky shouldst thou find;
And by another; in deep dell below;
See; through the trees; a little river go
All in its mid…day gold and glimmering。
Honey from out the gnarled hive I'll bring;
And apples; wan with sweetness; gather thee;…
Cresses that grow where no man may them see;
And sorrel untorn by the dew…claw'd stag:
Pipes will I fashion of the syrinx flag;
That thou mayst always know whither I roam;
When it shall please thee in our quiet home
To listen and think of love。 Still let me speak;
Still let me dive into the joy I seek;…
For yet the past doth prison me。 The rill;
Thou haply mayst delight in; will I fill
With fairy fishes from the mountain tarn;
And thou shalt feed them from the squirrel's barn。
Its bottom will I strew with amber shells;
And pebbles blue from deep enchanted wells。
Its sides I'll plant with dew…sweet eglantine;
And honeysuckles full of clear bee…wine。
I will entice this crystal rill to trace
Love's silver name upon the meadow's face。
I'll kneel to Vesta; for a flame of fire;
And to god Phoebus; for a golden lyre;
To Empress Dian; for a hunting spear;
To Vesper; for a taper silver…clear;
That I may see thy beauty through the night;
To Flora; and a nightingale shall light
Tame on thy finger; to the River…gods;
And they shall bring thee taper fishing…rods
Of gold; and lines of Naiads' long bright tress。
Heaven shield thee for thine utter loveliness!
Thy mossy footstool shall the altar be
'Fore which I'll bend; bending; dear love; to thee:
Those lips shall be my Delphos; and shall speak
Laws to my footsteps; colour to my cheek;
Trembling or stedfastness to this same voice;
And of three sweetest pleasurings the choice:
And that affectionate light; those diamond things;
Those eyes; those passions; those supreme pearl springs;
Shall be my grief; or twinkle me to pleasure。
Say; is not bliss within our perfect seisure?
O that I could not doubt!〃
The mountaineer
Thus strove by fancies vain and crude to clear
His briar'd path to some tranquillity。
It gave bright gladness to his lady's eye;
And yet the tears she wept were tears of sorrow;
Answering thus; just as the golden morrow
Beam'd upward from the vallies of the east:
〃O that the flutter of this heart had ceas'd;
Or the sweet name of love had pass'd away。
Young feather'd tyrant! by a swift decay
Wilt thou devote this body to the earth:
And I do think that at my very birth
I lisp'd thy blooming titles inwardly;
For at the first; first dawn and thought of thee;
With uplift hands I blest the stars of heaven。
Art thou not cruel? Ever have I striven
To think thee kind; but ah; it will not do!
When yet a child; I heard that kisses drew
Favour from thee; and so I kisses gave
To the void air; bidding them find out love:
But when I came to feel how far above
All fancy; pride; and fickle maidenhood;
All earthly pleasure; all imagin'd good;
Was the warm tremble of a devout kiss;…
Even then; that moment; at the thought of this;
Fainting I fell into a bed of flowers;
And languish'd there three days。 Ye milder powers;
Am I not cruelly wrong'd? Believe; believe
Me; dear Endymion; were I to weave
With my own fancies garlands of sweet life;
Thou shouldst be one of all。 Ah; bitter strife!
I may not be thy love: I am forbidden…
Indeed I am… thwarted; affrighted; chidden;
By things I trembled at; and gorgon wrath。
Twice hast thou ask'd whither I went: henceforth
Ask me no more! I may not utter it;
Nor may I be thy love。 We might commit
Ourselves at once to vengeance; we might die;
We might embrace and die: voluptuous thought!
Enlarge not to my hunger; or I'm caught
In trammels of perverse deliciousness。
No; no; that shall not be: thee will I bless;
And bid a long adieu。〃
The Carian
No word return'd: both lovelorn; silent; wan;
Into the vallies green together went。