On Heron-Plantation Hill,
Dealing out mischief the most dire
To the chattels of men of hire
There in their vill.
我想妳是火焰
高高地燃燒在蒼茫的種植園山崗
看著那些工人們與悲慘的命運達成交易
那裏，躺著他們的村莊
But by and by
You turned a yellow-green,
Like a large glow-worm in the sky;
And then I could descry
Your mood and mien.
不久之後
妳將換上黃綠色的裳
就像壹只夜空下的螢火蟲
我能夠看見
妳的沈思與靜謐的風采
How well I know
Your furtive feminine shape!
As if reluctantly you show
You nude of cloud, and but by favour throw
Aside its drape . . .
我比誰人都明了
妳的輕盈充滿女性溫柔的身軀
仿佛妳不願將
光潔的雲朵加以示人
妳更喜歡的是輕輕為它披上
壹件薄紗
How many a year
Have you kept pace with me,
Wan Woman of the waste up there,
Behind a hedge, or the bare
Bough of a tree!
壹年中我們曾並肩
踏足多少的地方
垃圾堆旁的蒼白女人
走過籬笆墻外，或者是在那壹株
落盡了葉子的樹枝下
No novelty are you,
O Lady of all my time,
Veering unbid into my view
Whether I near Death's mew,
Or Life's top cyme!
我對妳再也熟習不過
與我時刻相伴的月光女神
妳走進我的眼際
無論我靠近死神的荒冢
亦或是生命之樹的頂端！
托馬斯·哈代，英國詩人、小說家。他是橫跨兩個世紀的作家，早期和中期的創作以小說為主，繼承和發揚了維多利亞時代的文學傳統；晚年以其出色的詩歌開拓了英國20世紀的文學。