Apologia
Is it thy will that I should wax and wane
Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,
And a thy pleasure weave that web of pain
Whose brightest threads are each a wasted day?
Is it thy will-Love that I love so well-
That my Soul's House should be a tortured spot
Wherein, like evil paramours ,must dwell
The quenchless flame ,the woem that dieth not?
Nay,if it be thy will I shall endure,
And sell ambition at the common mart ,
And let dull failure be my vestiture,
And sorrow dig its grave within my heart.
Perchance it may be better so-at least
I have not made my heart a heart of stone,
Nor starved my girlhood of its goodly feast,
or walked where Beauty is a thing unknown.
Many a man hath done so ；sought to fence
In straitened bonds the soul that should be free,
Trodden the dusty road of common sense,
While all the forest sang of liberty,
Not marking how the spotted hawk in flinght
Passed on wide pinion through the lofty air,
To where some steep untrodden moutain height
Caught the ladt tresses of the Sun God's hair.
Or how the little flower be trod upon,
The daisy,that white-feathered shield of gold,
Followed with wistful eyes the wandering sun
Content if once its leaves were aureoled.
But surely it is something to have been
The best beloved for a little while ,
To have walked hand in hand with Love,and seen
His purple wings flit once across thy smile .
Ay! through the gorged asp of passion feed
On my girl'heart ,yet have I burst the bars,
Stood face to face with Beauty,known indeed
辯解
是否為了如妳所願，我當如月之盈虧
拿我的金裝交換妳的粗絨，
並且織就痛苦之網討妳喜歡，
而網中最燦爛的每壹條線都是壹段
虛擲的時光？
是否為了如妳所願——我深愛的愛人——
我的靈魂之屋須是折磨之地，
在那裏，必有不滅的火焰和不死之蟲
蟄伏著，猶如邪惡的情人？
不，若為了如妳所願則我當承受壹切，
而將販售野心於平凡市集，
讓陰沈的失敗為我的衣衫，
讓悲哀在我的心房挖掘它的墳墓。
或許如此反而更好——至少
我不曾讓我的心變成鐵石心腸，
不曾讓我的童年虛擲他那美好的盛宴，
也不曾去到那不是美為何物之地。
許多人都曾如此，企圖以
緊繃的枷鎖框圍那本該自由的靈魂，
整日行走在積塵的常理之道，
而整個森林卻正頌唱著自由。
不曾註意那飛行中有著斑點的鷹
如何以廣展的翅翼飛過玄虛的高空，
去到某個人跡未至的陡峭高山
並抓住太陽神最後的幾縷垂發。
不曾註意到小花如何被踐踏——
小雛菊，那綴著白羽的金盾，
曾以多麽渴切的眼神追隨太陽，想著
只要有壹回她的葉片能冠上光環
便心滿意足。
然而的確有壹小段時光，
那最受喜愛的，
曾是與愛人攜手散步，看著
他紫色的翅膀掠過妳的微笑。
啊！雖然那飽食的激情之蛇
吞噬我少男的心，然而如果我曾
扯開柵欄與美向迎而立，我將深切明白
那足以趨動太陽和壹切星辰的愛情......