第十四首
*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.