——J. Wilmot
Absent from thee, I languish still;
Then ask me not, when l return?
The straying fool 'twill plainly kill
To wish all day, all night to mourn.
Dear, from thine arms then let me fly,
That my fantastic mind may prove
The torments it deserves to try,
That tears my fix'd heart from my love.
When, wearied with a world of woe,
To thy safe bosom I retire,
Where love, and peace, and truth does flow,
May I contented there expire!
Lest, once more wandering from that heaven,
I fall on some base heart unblest;
Faithless to thee, false, unforgiven——
And lose my everlasting rest.
威爾摩特[1]
離開了你,我痛苦依然;
請別問我何時回到你身邊,
日日夜夜的企望和哀傷,
足以奪走迷途者的性命。
親愛的,請允許我飛離你的懷抱,
讓我那想入非非的神經(jīng)
承受它所應(yīng)得的折磨,
并因此番出走而流淚漣漣。
你的胸懷充滿愛、和平與真理,
當我身心疲憊,歷經(jīng)艱辛,
回到你那安全的棲息地,
但愿我從此知足收心!
從此不再離開幸福的天堂,
不再心存卑劣的妄念,
不再無情無義,使自己不可寬恕——
失卻永生的安寧。
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[1]約翰·威爾摩特(John Wilmot,1647—1680),即羅切斯特伯爵,擅長寫抒情詩,號稱“宮廷才子”。他的詩歌語言機智,具有玄學(xué)派的遺風。馬韋爾、斯威夫特、蒲伯、歌德、丁尼生等人都曾受過他的影響。但他的私生活過于放縱,“以致過早地燃燒了青春和健康”(約翰生語)。