She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight；
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment’s ornament；
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair；
Like Twilight’s too, her dusky hair；
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn；
A dancing Shape, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and way-lay．
I saw her upon nearer view,
A spirit, yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin-liberty；
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet；
A Creature not too bright or good
For human nature’s daily food；
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine；
A Being breathing thoughtful breath,
A Traveler between life and death；
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill；
A perfect Woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command；
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light．
Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust；
And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things；
Grow rich in that which never taketh rust．
Whatever fades, but fading pleasure brings．
Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might
To that sweet yoke where lasting freedoms be,
Which breaks the clouds, and opens forth the light,
That doth both shine and give us sight to see．
O, take fast hold! let that light be thy guide
In this small course which birth draws out to death---
And think how evil becometh him to slide,
Who seeketh heaven, and comes of heavenly breath．
Then farewell, world; thy uttermost I see：
Eternal Love, maintain thy life in me．
LYKE as a ship, that through the Ocean wyde,
by conduct of some star doth make her way,
whenas a storme hath dimd her trusty guyde,
out of her course doth wander far astray.
So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray,
me to direct, with cloudes is ouer-cast,
doe wander now, in darknesse and dismay,
through hidden perils round about me plast.
Yet hope I well, that when this storme is past,
My Helice the lodestar of my lyfe
will shine again, and looke on me at last,
with louely light to cleare my cloudy grief.
Till then I wander carefull comfortlesse,
in secret sorrow and sad pensiuenesse.
亲切如生前热吻的追忆，
甜蜜似唇间无助的幻象，
像深沉的爱、深沉的初恋，
万般悔恨，无比颠狂；
那逝去的时日啊，人生中的死亡。
Tears, Idle Tears
TEARS, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.
Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.
Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more.