尽管露水笼罩得田野灰白暗淡,
到中午一切又将喜气盎然,
苏醒的毛茛花是孩子们的“嫁妆”,
这华而俗的甜瓜花哪儿比得上它灿烂明亮!
Home Thoughts From Abroad
by Robert Browning
Oh, to be in England now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!
And after April, when May follows
And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge
That's the wise thrush: he sings each song twice over
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And, tho' the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!
译文欣赏
啊,但愿此刻身在英格兰,趁这四月天,
一个早晨醒来,谁都会突然发观:
榆树四周低矮的枝条和灌木丛中,
小小的嫩叶已显出一片葱茏,
听那苍头燕雀正在果园里唱歌,
在英格兰啊,在此刻!
四月过去,五月接踵来到,
燕子都在衔泥,白喉鸟在筑巢!
我园中倚向篱笆外的梨树
把如雨的花瓣和露珠
洒满了树枝之下的苜蓿田;
聪明的鸫鸟在那儿唱,把每支歌都唱两遍,
为了免得你猜想:它不可能重新捕捉
第一遍即兴唱出的美妙欢乐!
尽管露水笼罩得田野灰白暗淡,
到中午一切又将喜气盎然,
苏醒的毛茛花是孩子们的“嫁妆”,
这华而俗的甜瓜花哪儿比得上它灿烂明亮!
作者简介
罗伯特·白朗宁(Robert Browning,1812—1889),英国十九世纪中叶诗人,出身富裕家庭,终生不事生产,写诗过日。在英国文学史上他与丁尼生(Alfred Tennyson)齐名,在政治上倾向于资产阶级自由党中的激进派,在同他妻子伊丽莎白·白朗宁(也是著名诗人)长期寄居意大利期间,曾同情当地人民反抗奥地利占领者的革命斗争。
白朗宁写了许多长诗,颇有特色;他尝试过诗剧的创作,则无多建树;他的短诗之中,有两类颇值一读。一类是抒情诗。他的诗笔一般晦涩,但在一些抒情短诗里他却做到以白描见长。另一类是戏剧性的独白诗,用活跃的口语词语和节奏,模拟人物口吻,一时独步诗坛,无人能及。在题材上,诗人所歌咏的,除了爱情之外,多是处在奇幻处境里的人物的心理状态,但也有反对教会与贵族专制的作品。