The shadow on the stone
踪影
by/Thomas Hardy
I went by the Druid stone
That broods in the garden white and lone
And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows
That at some moments fall thereon
From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing
我漫步经过一块石碑
它晶莹而又孤零零立在花园中
我停步注视着
碑上移动的树影
树枝在有节奏的摆动
And they shaped in my imagining
To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders
Threw there when she was gardening.
在我的想象里
影子化作我熟悉的头和双肩
是她在园中操作的身影
I thought her behind my back,
Yea, her I long had learned to lack,
And I said: "I am sure you are standing behind me,
Though how do you get into this old track?"
And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf
As a sad response; and to keep down my grief
我想准是她站在我的背后
我久已失去她的音容
我说:“我知道你在我背后
可你怎么到这常来的旧径?”
寂然无语,只有凄凉的落叶声
我抑制住我的悲哀
I would not turn my head to discover
That there was nothing in my belief
Yet I wanted to look and see
That nobody stood at the back of me
我不愿回过头去
怕看不到一个人影
可是我又想看个分明
看背后有否人踪
But I thought once more: "Nay, I'll not unvision
A shape which, somehow, there may be."
So I went on softly from the glade
And left her behind me throwing her shade
As she were indeed an apparition
My head unturned lest my dream should fade
但我又想:“可不能使这一形象消失,
她就在我身后也很可能。”
我悄悄离开花园
留下她的身影在我背后
她好象真是一个幻影
我头也不回,怕我的梦消失无踪