The Phoenix and the Turtle

Let the bird of loudest lay,
On the sole Arabian tree,
Herald sad and trumpet be,
To whose sound chaste wings obey.
讓那歌喉最響亮的鳥雀，
飛上獨立的鳳樹的枝頭，
宣布訃告，把哀樂演奏，
一切飛禽都和著拍子跳躍。

But thou, shrieking harbinger,
Foul pre-currer of the fiend,
Augur of the fever's end,
To this troop come thou not near.
 可是你叫聲刺耳的狂徒，
你魔鬼的邪惡的信使，
死神的忠實的信士，
千萬別走近我們的隊伍。

From this session interdict
Every fowl of tyrant wing,
Save the eagle, feather'd king:
Keep the obsequy so strict.
 任何專橫跋扈的暴徒，
都不容走近我們的會場，
只除了鷹，那羽族之王：
葬禮的尊嚴不容玩忽。

Let the priest in surplice white,
That defunctive music can,
Be the death-defying swan,
Lest the requiem lack his right.
 讓那身穿著白色袈裟，
懂得死亡之曲的牧師，
唱出死神來臨的挽詩，
并由他領著作彌撒。

And thou, treble-dated crow,
That thy sable gender mak'st
With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st,
'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.
 還有你壽長過人的烏鴉，
也必須參加哭喪的隊伍，
你生來穿著黑色的喪服，
開口就像哭不用作假。

Here the anthem doth commence:
Love and constancy is dead;
Phoenix and the turtle fled
In a mutual flame from hence.
 接著他們唱出送喪的哀辭，
愛情和忠貞已經死亡；
鳳和鳩化作一團火光
一同飛升，離開了塵世。

So they lov'd, as love in twain
Had the essence but in one;
Two distincts, division none:
Number there in love was slain.
 它們是那樣彼此相愛，
仿佛兩者已合為一體；
分明是二，卻又渾然為一：
是一是二，誰也難猜。

Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
Distance, and no space was seen
'Twixt the turtle and his queen;
But in them it were a wonder.
 兩顆心分開，卻又在一起；
斑鳩雖和它的皇后分開，
它們之間卻并無距離存在：
這情景只能說是奇跡。

So between them love did shine,
That the turtle saw his right
Flaming in the phoenix' sight:
Either was the other's mine.
 愛情在它倆之間如電光閃灼，
斑鳩借著鳳凰的眼睛，
就能清楚地看見自身：
彼此都認為對方是我。

Property was thus appall'd,
That the self was not the same;
Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was call'd.
 物性仿佛已失去規矩，
本身竟可以并非本身，
形體相合又各自有名，
兩者既分為二又合為一。

Reason, in itself confounded,
Saw division grow together;
To themselves yet either-neither,
Simple were so well compounded
 理智本身也無能為力，
它明明看到合一的分離，
二者全不知誰是自己，
這單一體原又是復合體。

That it cried how true a twain
Seemeth this concordant one!
Love hath reason, reason none
If what parts can so remain.
 它不禁叫道，“多奇怪，
這到底是二還是一！
這情景如果長存下去，
理智將變作愛情的奴才。”

Whereupon it made this threne
To the phoenix and the dove,
Co-supreme and stars of love;
As chorus to their tragic scene.
 因此它唱出一首哀歌，
敬獻給鳳凰和斑鳩，
這愛情的明星和旗手，
吊唁它們的悲慘結果。

THRENOS.
 哀歌

Beauty, truth, and rarity.
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclos'd in cinders lie.
 美、真、至上的感情，
如此可貴，如此真純，
現在竟一同化作灰燼。

Death is now the phoenix' nest;
And the turtle's loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
 鳳巢現在已不復存在；
那斑鳩的忠貞情懷，
此一去，永遠難再。

Leaving no posterity:--
'Twas not their infirmity,
It was married chastity.
 也未留下后代兒孫——
這并非因它們身體有病，
而是因為婚后仍童身。

Truth may seem, but cannot be:
Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.
 從今后，再說真，是謊，
再有美，不過是假相，
真和美已被埋葬。

To this urn let those repair
That are either true or fair;
For these dead birds sigh a prayer.
 不真不美的也別牢騷，
這骨灰瓶可以任你瞧，
這兩只死鳥正為你默禱。