The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd

[英国] 沃特·雷利 Walter Raleigh

作者简介

沃特·雷利Walter Raleigh(1554-1618),英国伊丽莎白时代的宫廷诗人。沃特?雷利出生在德文郡。曾经在牛津大学就读，参加过法国宗教战争，之后在伦敦学习法律，逐渐结交了宫廷和知识界的朋友。雷利一生中写过许多诗歌，大多以手稿形式流传在外。他的诗歌多为抒情短诗，其特点是在彼特拉克式 (Petrarchan)的爱情主题中，掺入自己对人类生活环境的思考，表达了对生命无常和时光短暂的感慨，时常带有伤感抑郁之情。

Fall the world and love were young,

And truth in every shepherd’s tongue,

These pretty pleasures might me move

To live with thee and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold,

When rivers rage and rocks grow cold，

And Philomel becometh dumb;

The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields

To wayward winter reckoning yields:

A honey tongue, a heart of gall,

Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.

The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,

Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies

Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,

In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,

Thy coral clasps and amber studs,

All these in me no means can move

To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed,

Had joys no date nor age no need,

Then these delights my mind might move

To live with thee and be thy love.