英漢對照|王爾德詩選：辯護詞

Apologia

Is it thy will that I should wax and wane,

Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,

And at thy pleasure weave that web of pain

Whose brightest threads are each a wasted day?



Is it thy will—Love that I love so well—

That my Soul's House should be a tortured spot

Wherein, like evil paramours, must dwell

The quenchless flame, the worm that dieth not?



Nay, if it be thy will I shall endure,

And sell ambition at the common mart,

And let dull failure be my vestiture,

And sorrow dig its grave within my heart.



Perchance it may be better so—at least

I have not made my heart a heart of stone,

Nor starved my boyhood of its goodly feast,

Nor walked where Beauty is a thing unknown.



Many a man hath done so; sought to fence

In straitened bonds the soul that should be free,

Trodden the dusty road of common sense,

While all the forest sang of liberty,



Not marking how the spotted hawk in flight

Passed on wide pinion through the lofty air,

To where the steep untrodden mountain height

Caught the last tresses of the Sun God's hair.



Or how the little flower he trod upon,

The daisy, that white-feathered shield of gold,

Followed with wistful eyes the wandering sun

Content if once its leaves were aureoled.



But surely it is something to have been

The best belovèd for a little while,

To have walked hand in hand with Love, and seen

His purple wings flit once across thy smile.



Ay! though the gorgèd asp of passion feed

On my boy's heart, yet have I burst the bars,

Stood face to face with Beauty, known indeed

The Love which moves the Sun and all the stars!

辯護詞

莫非是你的意愿讓我時弱時強，

用我的一襲金衣交換灰色粗呢，

按照你的心愿去編織痛苦之網(wǎng)，

每根燦爛的網(wǎng)線是我虛擲的時日？



莫非是你的意愿——愛我至深的愛——

我靈魂的居所是一個拷刑場，

其中居住著如同奸夫淫婦的

不滅的烈火和不死的蠕蟲。



不，倘若是你的意愿，我將忍受，

把我的雄心拿去公共市場出售，

讓陰郁的失敗成為我的衣衫，

讓悲哀在我的心臟發(fā)掘它的墳墓。



或許那樣更好——至少我不至于

把自己的心臟變作一塊石頭，

不讓美食的少年時光為饑餓所苦，

不去涉足美不知為何物的場所。



許多人如此這般做了；渴望用藩籬

來拘禁本應自由的靈魂；

踩踏布滿塵埃的常識之路，

而所有森林正在為自由而歌吟，



卻沒有注意染上污點的兀鷹

伸展寬大的翅膀穿越蒼茫的天空，

抵達人跡罕至的巍峨高峰，

這高峰握有太陽神最后一縷發(fā)絲。



或者他怎樣蹂躪了小小的花朵，

雛菊，那飾有白羽的金盾，

以渴望的眼神追隨漫游的太陽，

一旦花葉蒙上光暈便喜不自勝。



而這純?nèi)皇侨碎g至美的盛事一樁，

成為最受鐘愛者，哪怕只是片刻，

與愛神手拉手漫步，親眼目睹

他紫色的翅膀輕輕掠過你的微笑。



哦！盡管饕餮的激情毒蛇吞噬

我少年的心，我畢竟掙脫了牢籠，

與美面對面地站立，真切地體會了

那驅(qū)動太陽和眾星的愛！