2022年3月14日

我害怕……

 

~约翰·济慈

 

我害怕,害怕我可能要英年早逝,

以至我的笔,来不及写下泉涌的灵感,

以至我堆积如山的簿册,来不及

像丰收的谷仓那样填满丰美的文字;

我望见,望见繁星点点的夜空下,

飘浮着象征高贵传奇的巨大云团,

我便自觉不久于人世,恐怕不能

执起神来之笔描绘稍纵即逝的幻影;

我感到,感到神的造物美而短暂,

我将永远不可能再把你凝神端详,

永远不能沐浴在纯洁爱情之中

体味个中神韵;——于是我独自站立

在广阔世界的涯际,苦苦地思索

直到爱情与名誉都沉入虚无的深渊。

 

(桔子  译)

 

原文:

When I have fears that I may cease to be

  Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,

Before high-piled books, in charactery,

  Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain;

When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,

  Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace

  Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,

  That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

  Of unreflecting love;then on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think

Till love and fame to nothingness to sink.

 

注:

1、原诗无标题。

2、诗歌格式为商籁体(即十四行诗)。

3、诗歌采用莎士比亚韵式,译文不押韵。

4、诗歌写于1818年,三年后诗人英年早逝。




Vicent van Gogh, The Starry Night