英文
10. Sonnet 75
——E. Spenser
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
“Vain man,”said she,“that dost in vain assay
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise.”
“Not so,”quod I,“let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name,
Where, whenas Death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.”
中文
10 十四行诗第75首
斯宾塞
那天我在沙滩上写她的名字，
海浪扑来，把它冲得一干二净：
我随后便将它重新写了一次，
潮水又来，我的劳作化为泡影。
“徒劳啊，”她说，“你不必那么用情，
凡事都有定数，永恒不可企望。
我自己就不免腐朽，归于幽冥，
我的名字也一样会被人遗忘。”
“不，”我回答，“得让卑贱之物消亡，
你一定得享受那不朽的美名，
我写下的诗将使你百世流芳，
你的名字一定得铭刻在天庭。
尽管死神能将这个世界征服，
我们的爱将活着，生命将延续。”
