双语·英美爱情诗歌选 43 致亡妻
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43. On His Deceased Wife
——John Milton
Methought I saw my late espoused Saint
Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave,
Whom Jove's great Son to her glad Husband gave,
Rescu'd from death by force though pale and faint.
Mine as whom washt from spot of child-bed taint,
Purification in the old Law did save,
And such, as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind:
Her face was vail'd, yet to my fancied sight,
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd
So clear, as in no face with more delight.
But O as to embrace me she enclin'd
I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night.
43 致亡妻
弥尔顿[1]
我仿佛看见我圣洁的妻子离开坟墓，[2]
苍白而昏沉，来到我身边，犹如
朱庇特之子从死神处夺回阿尔刻斯提斯，
交还给她那喜不自胜的丈夫。[3]
我的妻子已洗去产褥的污浊，
行过洁身礼，按古法获得救赎，
我还相信，当我们不再受约束，
在天堂重逢时，她也是那般圣洁：
身披白袍而至，纯洁如她的心灵。
脸上蒙着纱巾，在我的幻觉中，
浑身闪耀着爱，闪耀着美和善，
喜气洋溢的样子，更无人能比。
正当她想要拥抱我时，我醒了，
她遁去，我的白天又回到暗夜。
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[1]约翰·弥尔顿（John Milton，1608—1674），诗人。生于伦敦的一个清教徒家庭，毕业于剑桥大学基督学院。年轻时积极参加政治斗争，撰文参与宗教论战，担任克伦威尔革命政府的拉丁文秘书。因辛劳过度导致双目失明。王政复辟后遭到迫害，逆境中从事诗歌创作，凭非凡的毅力写出史诗《失乐园》《复乐园》和《力士参孙》等诗篇。此外还写出一些十四行诗和抒情诗。田园挽歌《利瑟达斯》为悼念溺水而亡的同学爱德华·金而作，是悼词诗中最优秀的作品之一。
[2]弥尔顿的第二任妻子凯瑟琳·伍德考克亡于1658年。弥尔顿失明于1651年。
[3]据希腊神话，赫拉克勒斯曾赴地府救出阿尔刻斯提斯，把她送还给她的丈夫阿德墨托斯。欧里庇得斯根据这一题材写过悲剧《阿尔刻斯提斯》。
