I will not in grey hours
- I will not in grey hours revoke
- The gift I gave in hours of light
- Before the breath of slander broke
- The thread my folly had drawn tight,
- The little thread weak hope had made
- To bind two lonely hearts in one
- But loves of light must fade and fade
- Till all the dooms of men are spun.
- The gift I gave once more I give
- For you may come to winter time
- But your white flower of beauty live
- In a poor foolish book of rhyme.
march 10th 94
我不会在晦暗时刻
- 在光明时刻馈赠的礼品，
- 我不会在晦暗时刻收还，
- 在诽谤气息把我的愚蠢
- 拽紧了的线绳弄断之前；
- 那脆弱希望造就的细线
- 捆绑住两颗孤寂的心灵，
- 但光明的爱必渐渐暗淡，
- 直到人类的命运都缠尽。
- 馈赠的礼品我再度馈赠，
- 因为你可能会来到冬季，
- 但你美貌的白花会永生
- 在一册可怜愚蠢的诗里。
1894年3月10日
傅浩 译
附
folly: foolishness.
维护者注——
This three-quatrain poem accords with many of Yeats’s other love lyrics of the time. Although he does not mention Maud Gonne specifically, it is possible that the “breath of slander” refers to attacks on her. Both the first and third stanzas of the manuscript contain alternate readings.
revoke: “revoke” replaces an earlier reading “retake.”
Before the breath of slander broke: The line earlier read “Before a slanderer’s touch could break.”
may: A brace pairs “may” with the alternate reading “will.”
a: A brace pairs “a” with the alternate reading “this.”
George Bornstein—