G. G. Byron - Stanzas for Music(March& ...

“O lachrymarum fons, tenero sacros
Ducentium ortus ex animo: quater
Felix! In imo qui scatentem
Pector te, pia Nympha sensit.”
 
—Gray’s Pemata.
 
1
 
There’s not a joy the world can give like that it takes away.
When the glow of early thought declines in feeling’s dull decay;
‘Tis not on youth’s smooth cheek the blush alone, which fades so fast,
But the tender bloom of heart is gone, ere Youth itself be past.
 
2
 
Then the few whose spirits float above the wreck of happiness
Are driven o’er the shoals of guilt, or ocean of excess:
The magnet of their course is gone, or only points in vain
The shore to which their shivered sail shall never stretch again.
 
3
 
Then the mortal coldness of the soul like death itself comes down;
It cannot feel for others’ woes, it dare not dream its own;
That heavy chill has frozen o’er the fountain of our tears,
And though the eye may sparkle still, ‘tis where the ice appears.
 
4
 
Though wit may flash from fluent lips, and mirth distract the breast,
Through midnight hours that yield no more their former hope of rest;
‘Tis but as ivy-leaves around the ruined turret wreath,
All green and wildly fresh without, but worn and grey beneath.
 
5
 
Oh, could I feel as I have felt, -- or be what I have been,
Or weep as I could once have wept, o’er many a vanished scene;
As springs, in deserts found, seem sweet, all brackish though they be,
So, midst the withered waste of life, those tears would flow to me.
 
 
March 1815.

穆旦 译:

乐章
G．G． 拜伦
 
哦，泪之泉，你神圣的源流
出于一个多情的灵魂：
谁要能从心里涌出你，
女仙啊，他将四倍的快乐。
    
       ——格雷：《诗艺》
 
1
 
世间哪有一种欢乐能和它拿去的相比，
呵，那冥想的晨光已随着感情的枯凋萎靡；
并不只是少年面颊的桃红迅速地褪色，
还未等青春流逝，那心的花朵便已凋落。
 
2
 
在快乐触礁的时候，有些灵魂浮越过重创，
接着会被冲到罪恶的沙滩，纵欲的海洋；
他们的航程失去指针，或只是白努力一番，
他们残破的小舟再也驶不到指望的岸沿。
 
3
 
于是有如死亡降临，灵魂罩上致命的阴冷，
它无感于别人的悲哀，也不敢做自己的梦，
一层厚冰冻结在我们泪之泉的泉口上，
尽管眼睛还在闪耀，呵，那已是冰霜的寒光。
 
4
 
尽管雄辩的唇舌还闪着机智，欢笑在沸腾，
这午夜的春宵再也不能希冀以往的宁静，
就好像常春藤的枝叶覆盖着倾圮的楼阁，
外表看来葱翠而清新，里面却灰暗而残破。
 
5
 
哦，但愿我能有从前的感觉，或者复归往昔，
但愿我还能对许多一去不返的情意哭泣；
沙漠中的泉水尽管苦涩，但仍极为甘美，
呵，在生命的荒原上，让我流出那种眼泪。
 
1815年3月