TO
HELENHelen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, wayworn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.
Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy Land!
译文致海伦
海伦，你的美在我的眼里，
有如往日尼西亚的三桅船
船行在飘香的海上，悠悠地
把已倦于漂泊的困乏船员
送回他故乡的海岸。
早已习惯于在怒海上飘荡，
你典雅的脸庞，你的鬈发，
你水神般的风姿带我返航，
光荣属于希腊；
伟大属于罗马。
看哪！壁龛似的明亮窗户里，
我看见你站着，多像尊雕像，
一盏玛瑙的灯你拿在手上！
塞姬女神哪，神圣的土地
才是你家乡！
注释* 普叙赫（Psyche）在希腊神话中是人的灵魂的化身，爱神厄洛斯为她的美貌所倾倒并最终娶她为妻。
* 该诗发表于1831年，据作者说，此诗是为中学一位同学年轻早逝的母亲简·斯坦纳德夫人而作，写的是“我的灵魂的第一次纯洁、理想的爱”。
原文TO HELEN
I saw thee once — once only — years ago:
I must not say how many — but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,
There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,
With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,
Upon the upturned faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,
Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe —
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That gave out, in return for the love-light,
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death —
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted
By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.
Clad all in white, upon a violet bank
I saw thee half reclining; while the moon
Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses,
And on thine own, upturn'd—alas, in sorrow!
Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight—
Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,)
That bade me pause before that garden-gate,
To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?
No footstep stirred: the hated world an slept,
Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven!—oh, God!
How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)
Save only thee and me. I paused—I looked—
And in an instant all things disappeared.
(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)
The pearly lustre of the moon went out:
The mossy banks and the meandering paths,
The happy flowers and the repining trees,
Were seen no more: the very roses' odors
Died in the arms of the adoring airs.
All—all expired save thee—save less than thou:
Save only the divine light in thine eyes —
Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.
I saw but them—they were the world to me!
I saw but them—saw only them for hours,
Saw only them until the moon went down.
What wild heart-histories seemed to he enwritten
Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres!
How dark a woe, yet how sublime a hope!
How silently serene a sea of pride!
How daring an ambition; yet how deep —
How fathomless a capacity for love!
But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight,
Into a western couch of thunder-cloud;
And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees
Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained;
They would not go—they never yet have gone.
Lighting my lonely pathway home that night,
They have not left me (as my hopes have) since.
They follow me—they lead me through the years.
They are my ministers—yet I their slave.
Their office is to illumine and enkindle —
My duty, to be saved by their bright light,
And purified in their electric fire,
And sanctified in their elysian fire.
They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope),
And are far up in Heaven—the stars I kneel to
In the sad, silent watches of my night;
While even in the meridian glare of day
I see them still—two sweetly scintillant
Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!
译文致海伦
我见过你，只一次，在多年以前；
我无须说几年——但并不久远。
那是七月的一个午夜，从一轮
圆月，一轮像你的灵魂、翱翔着
寻找经过天国之路的圆月，
洒下一层如银如丝的光的薄纱，
带着宁静，带着热情，带着睡意，
罩上一千朵玫瑰花仰起的脸庞，
玫瑰花长在一座令人着迷的花园，
那里风儿不敢吹，除非踮起脚尖——
月光照耀在玫瑰花仰起的脸上，
为了报答那爱之光，玫瑰花给出——
在销魂荡魄的死亡中——缕缕芳魂。
月光照耀在玫瑰花仰起的脸上，
玫瑰花微笑而死去，在那个花坛，
那个被你——被你的诗迷住的花坛。
穿一身白衣 , 靠着一排紫罗兰，
我看见你半倚半躺；那时月光
照在那些仰着脸庞的玫瑰花上，
也照着你仰起的脸——啊，忧伤的脸！
莫非是命运，在这七月的午夜——
莫非是命运（它也名叫悲伤）
让我在那座花园门口止步，
吸一口那些熟睡的玫瑰的芳香 ?
阒无一人，这可恨的世界已沉睡，
只除开你和我。( 哦，苍天！哦，上帝！
我的心跳得多快，当把这两个字联在一起）
只除开你和我。我止步——我张望——
突然，所有的一切都不复存在。
（哦，我心中只剩那座有魔力的花园）
月亮流溢出珍珠色的光华：
那些长苔的堤，那些通幽的径，
那些快活的花，那些哀怨的树，
都无影无踪；连那玫瑰的芬芳
也在空气慈爱的手臂中消失。
一切都消逝了——只剩你——只剩你；
只剩下你那双眼睛神圣的光芒——
只剩下你仰望的眼中那个灵魂。
我只看见它们——它们是我的世界。
我只看见它们——几个时辰我只见它们——
只看见它们，直到那轮圆月落下。
多炽热的心的倾述仿佛就写在
那双晶亮的、神圣的眼睛里！
多浓的愁！但多崇高的希望！
多么柔和平静的骄傲的海洋！
多无畏的雄心！但多么深——
多么深不可测的一颗爱心！
但此刻，可爱的狄安娜终于坠下，
坠入西边一片挟雷携电的云的卧榻；
而你，一个幽灵，也悄然隐去，
被埋进树丛。只留下你的眼睛。
它们不会离去——它们从来没离去。
那晚它们照亮我回家的孤途，
从此再也没离开我 ( 如我的希望 ) 。
它们伴着我，引导我度过这些年头。
它们是我的情人——而我是它们的奴仆。
它们的天职就是把我照亮，点燃——
我的任务就是被它们的光亮拯救，
在它们带电的火焰中得以纯洁，
在它们福地的火焰中得以神圣。
它们让我的灵魂充满美 ( 希望之美)，
当它们高高在天上——我跪向那双星
在忧伤的、静谧的、不眠的夜晚；
甚至在白天阳光灿烂的正午
我仍看见它们——两颗美妙闪烁的
金星 , 并不因太阳的光辉而失色！
注释* 该诗发表于1845年，诗中的海伦指女诗人莎拉·海伦·惠特曼（Sarah Helen Whitman），爱伦·坡曾于当年向她求过婚。
埃德加·爱伦·坡（Edgar Allan Poe）（1809～1849），十九世纪美国诗人、小说家和文学评论家，在世时长期担任报刊编辑工作。其作品形式精致、语言优美、内容多样，在任何时代都是“独一无二”的风格。爱伦·坡被尊崇为美国浪漫主义运动要角之一，以悬疑、惊悚小说最负盛名，被公认为推理小说开创者、象征主义先驱，甚至被视为科幻小说的奠基人。
