Hélas!

To drift with every passion till my soul

Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play,

Is it for this that I have given away

Mine ancient wisdom, and austere control?

Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll

Scrawled over on some boyish holiday

With idle songs for pipe and virelay,

Which do but mar the secret of the whole.

Surely there was a time I might have trod

The sunlit heights, and from life's dissonance

Struck one clear chord to reach the ears of God:

Is that time dead? lo! with a little rod

I did but touch the honey of romance—

And must I lose a soul's inheritance?

唉！

伴随每一次激情而漂流，直到

我的灵魂变作竖琴任每阵清风抚弄，

莫非因为这个，我不得不放弃

我古老的智慧和严苛的节制？

我想我的生命是二度书写的卷轴，

在稚气的假日里被潦草地涂抹，

为笛管和古风写就慵懒的歌曲，

只是它毁弃了整个生活的秘密。

确实有过一段时光，我走过

阳光普照的峰顶，而生命的不和谐音

清晰地撞击琴弦，直抵上帝耳畔：

莫非那时光已死？噢！我只是

用一根嫩枝蘸取了浪漫传奇的蜂蜜——

我就必须丧失一个灵魂的遗产？