To the Nightingale致夜莺
Exert thy voice,sweet harbinger of spring!
This moment is thy time to sing,
This moment I attend to praise
Andt set my numbers to thy lays.
Free as thine shall be my song,
As thy music, short or long.
Poets wild as thou were born
Pleasing best when unconfined,
When to please is least designed,
Soothing but their cares to rest.
Cares do still their thoughts molest,
And still the unhappy poet's breast,
Like thine,when best he sings,is placed against a thorn.
She begins. Let all be still!
Muse,thy promise now fulfil!
Sweet, oh sweet,still sweeter yet!
Can thy words such accents fit,
Canst thou syllables refine,
Melt a sense that shall retain
Still some spirit of the brain,
Till with sounds like these it join?
'Twill not be! then change thy note;
Let division shake thy throat.
Hark!Division now she tries;
Yet as far the Muse outflies.
Cease then,prithee,cease thy tune.
Trifler,wilt thou sing till June?
Till thy business all lies waste,
And the time of building's past!
Thus we poets that have speech,
Unlike what thy forests teach,
If a fluent vein be shown
That's transcendent to our own,
Criticize,reform,or preach,
Or censure what we cannot reach.
敞开嗓门吧,春天甜美的使者!
这是你歌唱的季节,
这是我赞美的时辰,
让我的音乐和着你的歌声。
我像你一样自由地歌唱,
像你的乐曲,有短也有长。
曾有诗人与你同样狂野,
杰作皆出于毫不拘谨、
毫无意念去取悦于人、
仅为抚慰自己的烦忧之时。
烦忧仍然困扰诗人的思绪,
诗人郁闷的胸膛,与你相似,
最佳时刻是被荆棘刺穿的时刻。
她开始歌唱。让万物倾听!
缪斯,把你的诺言履行!
甜美,啊甜美,越加甜美!
你的文字能否符合这样的韵味,
你的音节能否达到精炼升华,
将一种意念揉合熔化,
保留心智的神韵风貌,
直到它与这样的音乐共领风骚?
这不能实现!那就改变音律;
让你的嗓音分崩离析。
听吧!她尝试着破裂的嗓子;
此时缪斯已远离而去。
停止,我求你,暂停你的歌声。
无聊之徒,难道你想唱至六月份?
直到你的使命被完全废弃,
直到建造的季节完全远离!
我们诗人具有的语言能力,
不同于你们的森林之语,
如果有一种更流畅的乐曲
越出我们自己的音乐旋律,
我们就不会停止批评、革新、鼓吹,
或指责我们不能企及的东西。