The Arrow

  • I thought of your beauty, and this arrow,
  • Made out of a wild thought, is in my marrow.
  • There’s no man may look upon her, no man,
  • As when newly grown to be a woman,
  • Tall and noble but with face and bosom
  • Delicate in colour as apple blossom.
  • This beauty’s kinder, yet for a reason
  • I could weep that the old is out of season.

  • 从前我想起你的美,这枚箭镞——
  • 由狂想铸就——就钉入我的髓骨。
  • 如今已没有男人会看她,没有,
  • 不像青春少女初长成的时候,
  • 颀长而高贵,可是胸房和面颊
  • 却好像苹果花一样色泽淡雅。
  • 这位美人更和气,但有个缘故
  • 让我痛哭:旧日的美人已迟暮。

傅浩 译

此诗作于1901年,写叶芝对于1889年与茉德·冈初识的回忆。

箭镞:象征情欲。

叶芝诗集(增订本) 2018 ——