Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burden of a former child!
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done!
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or whether better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
O, sure I am, the wits of former days
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.
如果天下無(wú)新事,現(xiàn)在的種種
從前都有過(guò),我們的頭腦多上當(dāng),
當(dāng)它苦心要?jiǎng)?chuàng)造,卻懷孕成功
一個(gè)前代有過(guò)的嬰孩的重?fù)?dān)!
哦,但愿歷史能用回溯的眼光
(縱使太陽(yáng)已經(jīng)運(yùn)行了五百周),
在古書里對(duì)我顯示你的肖像,
自從心靈第一次寫成了句讀!--
讓我曉得古人曾經(jīng)怎樣說(shuō)法,
關(guān)于你那雍容的體態(tài)的神奇;
是我們高明,還是他們優(yōu)越,
或者所謂演變其實(shí)并無(wú)二致。
哦,我敢肯定,不少才子在前代
曾經(jīng)贊揚(yáng)過(guò)遠(yuǎn)不如你的題材。