That having such a scope to show her pride,
The argument all bare is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praise beside!
O, blame me not, if I no more can write!
Look in your glass, and there appears a face
That over-goes my blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines and doing me disgrace.
Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject that before was well?
For to no other pass my verses tend
Than of your graces and your gifts to tell;
And more, much more, than in my verse can sit
Your own glass shows you when you look in it.
我的詩神的產(chǎn)品多貧乏可憐!
分明有無限天地可炫耀才華,
可是她的題材,盡管一無妝點,
比加上我的贊美價值還要大!
別非難我,如果我寫不出什么!
照照鏡子吧,看你鏡中的面孔
多么超越我的怪笨拙的創(chuàng)作,
使我的詩失色,叫我無地自容。
那可不是罪過嗎,努力要增飾,
反而把原來無瑕的題材涂毀?
因為我的詩并沒有其他目的,
除了要模仿你的才情和嫵媚;
是的,你的鏡子,當你向它端詳,
所反映的遠遠多于我的詩章。