叶慈（W. B. Yeats, 1865-1939）
When You Are Old
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
*
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
*
A Drinking Song
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we know for truth
Before we grow and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
*
The Living Beauty
I bade, because the wick and oil are spent
And frozen are the channels of the blood,
My discontented heart to draw content
From beauty that is cast out of a mould
In bronze, or that in dazzling marble appears,
Appears, but when we have gone is gone again,
Being more indifferent to our solitude
Than 'twere an apparition. O heart, we are old;
The living beauty is for younger men:
We cannot pay its tribute of wild tears.
*
Down by the Salley Gardens
听此诗朗读 听此诗演唱，Britten 曲
Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.
In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
当你年老
当你年老，灰白，睡意正浓，
在火炉边打盹，取下这本书，
慢慢阅读，梦见你眼中一度
发出之柔光，以及深深暗影；
多少人爱你愉悦丰采的时光，
爱你的美，以或真或假之情，
祇一个人爱你朝圣者的心灵，
爱你变化的容颜蕴藏的忧伤；
并且俯身红光闪闪的栏栅边，
带点哀伤，喃喃低语，爱怎样
逃逸，逡巡于头顶的高山上
且将他的脸隐匿于群星之间。
*
他想要天国的绸缎
假如我有天国的锦缎，
绣满金光和银光，
那用夜和光和微光
织就的蓝和灰和黑色的锦缎，
我将把它们铺在你脚下：
但我很穷，只有梦；
我把我的梦铺在你脚下；
轻轻踩啊，因为你踩的是我的梦。
*
酒 歌
酒从唇间进，
爱从眼波起；
吾人老死前，
惟知此真理。
我举杯就唇，
我看你，我叹息。
*
活生生的美
我请求--因为灯芯和油都已耗尽
而且血液的通路都已冻结--
我这颗不满足的心且满足于
那用青铜模子铸造出来的，
或者显形于眩眼的大理石中的美，
显形，但当我们消逝后又再度消逝，
比一个幽灵，更加不关心
我们的孤寂。噢心啊，我们已老；
活生生的美是给更年轻的人的：
我们无法支付它狂野泪水的贡礼。
*
在杨柳园畔 *
在杨柳园畔，我的爱人和我相见，
她移动雪白的小脚，行过杨柳园。
她叫我平心对爱情，如同叶生树上，
但我年轻又愚蠢，不愿从她的思想。
在河边地上，我的爱人和我并站，
她把她雪白的手，搁在我斜肩上。
她叫我从容对人生，如同草生堰上，
但我年轻又愚蠢，到如今泪满衣裳。
* 此诗收于我们译的 《世界情诗名作100首》
