I grant thou wert not married to my Muse,
And therefore mayst without attaint o'erlook
The dedicated words which writers use
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,
Finding thy worth a limit past my praise,
And therefore art enforced to seek anew
Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days.
And do so, love; yet when they have devised,
What strained touches rhetoric can lend,
Thou, truly fair, wert truly sympathized
In true plain words by thy true-telling friend.
And their gross painting might be better used
Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abused.
我承認,你未聯(lián)姻我的繆斯,
因此,你有足夠的理由惠顧
別的作家為你寫下的獻詩:
你是詩的主題,你理應垂睹。
你有與容貌相比美的學養(yǎng),
發(fā)現(xiàn)我欠缺頌揚你的才力,
只好找尋時尚者粉墨登場,
讓他們?yōu)槟憧滔滦碌谋碛洝?/p>
這樣也行,我的愛,但請留意:
他們只講究修辭,筆調浮夸;
你的真美只在真話中顯示,
朋友能說真話,它樸實無華。
只有貧血者才需艷抹濃妝,
他們如此裝扮你,有失允當。