爱默生《日子》经典诗篇欣赏

Days

Daughters of Time, the hypocritic Days,

Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes,

And marching single in an endless file,

Bring diadems and faggots in their hands.

To each they offer gifts after his will,

Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all.

I, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp,

Forgot my morning wishes, hastily

Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day

Turned and departed silent. I, too late,

Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.

日子

光阴老人的女儿，伪善的时日，

喑哑无语如同赤足的托僧，

她们单行排列，无始也无终，

手托皇冠和一根根权杖，

按各人的心愿向大家分赠礼品，

面包，王国和包罗星辰的天空。

在枝丫缠绕的`花园里，我见此壮观，

忘掉了早晨的愿望，匆匆忙忙地

采了些香草和苹果，时日便已转过身

静默地离去。在她黑色的发带下

我看出她的轻藐，为时已晚。

注：

1) Daughters: the reading as emended in Selected Poems (1876)

2) dervishes: Muslim friars who took vows of poverty and were known for their ceremonial whirling dances.

3) diadems: crowns. fagots: bunches of sticks or branches (for burning).

4) pleached garden: "Formed by the pleaching or intertwisting of boughs and twigs; fenced, bordered, or overarched with pleached boughs, as a garden-alley or arbour" (OED "pleached" 2).

5) fillet: hair ribbon.