在遠遠的田野間收割,
壹邊割壹邊獨自歌唱,——
請妳站住.或者悄悄走過!
她獨自把麥子割了又捆,
唱出無限悲涼的歌聲,
屏息聽吧!深廣的谷地
已被歌聲漲滿而漫溢!
還從未有過夜鶯百囀,
唱出過如此迷人的歌,
在沙漠中的綠蔭間
撫慰過疲憊的旅客;
還從未有過杜鵑迎春,
聲聲啼得如此震動靈魂,
在遙遠的赫布利底群島
打破過大海的寂寥。
她唱什麽,誰能告訴我?
憂傷的音符不斷流湧,
是把遙遠的不幸訴說?
是把古代的戰爭吟詠?
也許她的歌比較卑謙,
只是唱今日平凡的悲歡,
只是唱自然的哀傷苦痛——
昨天經受過,明天又將重逢?
姑娘唱什麽,我猜不著,
她的歌如流水永無盡頭;
只見她壹面唱壹面幹活,
彎腰揮鐮,操勞不休……
我凝神不動,聽她歌唱,
然後,當我登上了山崗,
盡管歌聲早已不能聽到,
它卻仍在我心頭繚繞。Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain
And sings a melancholy strain;
Oh listen! For the vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travelers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands;
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay.
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?
What’er the theme, the maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o’er the sickle bending;
I listened, motionless and still;
And , as I mounted up the hill,
The music in