On the Morning Of Christ's Nativity
by John Milton

　I
This is the month, and this the happy morn
Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

　II
That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table,
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside, and here with us to be,
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.

　III
Say Heav'nly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein
Afford a present to the Infant God?
Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,
To welcome him to this his new abode,
Now while the heav'n, by the Sun's team untrod,
Hath took no print of the approaching light,
And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?

　IV
See how from far upon the eastern road
The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet:
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;
Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet,
And join thy voice unto the angel quire,
From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire. 


注：约翰-弥尔顿（1608-1674）是17世纪英国杰出的诗人、剧作家和历史学家。他出生于伦敦，在剑桥大学的克莱斯特学院完成学士学位和硕士学位，写过不少短诗和出色的政论文章。由于工作辛劳，他双目失明，后来隐居起来，其间用口授的方式，完成了他一生中最出色的三部诗作，即1667年的《失乐园》和1671年的《复乐园》及《力士参孙》。他的作品充满了热情，又有庄严与宏伟的气势，是世界文学史上的不朽史诗。