——E. Spenser
Of this worlds Theatre in which we stay,
My love like the Spectátor ydly sits
Beholding me that all the pageants' play,
Disguysing diversly my troubled wits.
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,
And mask in myrth lyke to a Comedy:
Soone after when my joy to sorrow flits,
I waile and make my woes a Tragedy.
Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,
Delights not in my merth nor rues' my smart:
But when I laugh she mocks, and when I cry
She laughes, and hardens evermore her hart.
What then can move her? if nor merth nor mone,
She is no woman, but a sencelesse stone.
斯宾塞[1]
我们所处的是一座人间戏院,
我的爱人闲坐着,就像那观众:
她看我将各种各样角色扮演,
不断换装,以掩饰智慧的贫穷。
有时兴致所致,我会喜气融融,
就像喜剧演员戴着面具逗趣,
但不久我的欢颜变成了愁容,
悲叹着,演绎起那人生的悲剧。
她看着我,目光始终那般超脱,
不因我喜而喜,不因我愁而愁:
我哭她笑,我笑时她报以奚落。
究竟什么能打动她?非喜非忧,
她不是女人,只是无情的石头。
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[1]爱德蒙·斯宾塞(Edmund Spenser,约1552——1599),诗人。生于伦敦塔附近的东史密斯菲尔德,毕业于剑桥大学。著有《牧羊人日历》、十四行诗集《小爱神》《婚曲》,最重要的作品是史诗《仙后》(原计划写12卷,结果只完成6卷)。由于他对诗歌技巧和韵律的把握胜人一筹,人称“诗人的诗人”(a poet of poets)。《仙后》采用九行体,押ababbcbcc韵。九行体在英国诗歌史上也被称为“斯宾塞诗节”(Spenserian stanza)。