If Must Love Me
[英]伊丽莎白·巴雷特·巴朗宁
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
如果一定要爱我,就别问什么缘由
只为爱而爱吧。不要说,
“我爱她的微笑——她的容貌——她的
细语温存——爱她的心思灵慧
正与我的心意相契相投,在那样的日子里
曾带给我怡人的松弛——”
我亲爱的,因为这些东西
都可能因你而改变,而失去——而爱,
也许因此相遇,也许因此分离。也不要因为
怜悯而爱我,来拭去我脸上的泪滴,
长久地接受你的慰藉,那造物主捏出的东西
或许会忘却哭泣,但也会因此而丢弃你的爱!
只为爱而爱我吧,这样你就能
穿越那永恒的爱,永远永远地爱下去。
If thou must love me, let it be for naught
Except for love's sake only. Do not say,
'I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day—'
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry.
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that even more
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.