La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad

By JOHN KEATS

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
    Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
    And no birds sing.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
    So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
    And the harvest’s done.

I see a lily on thy brow,
    With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
    Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads,
    Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light.
    And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,
    And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
    And made sweet moan

I set her on my pacing steed,
    And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
    A faery’s song

She found me roots of relish sweet,
    And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
    ‘I love thee true’.

She took me to her Elfin grot,
    And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
    With kisses four.

And there she lulléd me asleep,
    And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—

The latest dream I ever dreamt

    On the cold hill side.

I saw pale kings and princes too.

    Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;

They cried—'La Belle Dame sans Merci

    Thee hath in thrall!'

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,

    With horrid warning gapéd wide,

And I awoke and found me here,

    On the cold hill's side.

And this is why I sojourned here,

    Alone and palely loitering,

Through the sedge is withered from the lake,

    And no birds sing.

———

This is a poem my English teacher gave me. I thought it would be a happy poem as it is a ballad, but it ... gets so creepy. I was also wondering, is there any "La Belle Dame sans Merci" in our lives now? Are we the loitering knight-at-arms?

无情的美女

覃学岚 译

可怜人啦，你缘何烦恼

独自沮丧地闲荡？

沙草已经在湖水中枯去，

听不见鸟儿歌唱。

可怜人啦，你缘何烦恼，

如此憔悴如此惆怅？

松鼠的谷仓已塞得满满

庄稼已经收割停当。

我看你额角上的百合

挂满了苦闷的湿气和滚烫的露珠，

你面颊上日渐褪色的玫瑰

也在快速地凋枯。

我在草地上邂逅了一女子，

貌若天仙，百般妩媚

她秀发披肩，步态轻盈，

眸子里透着一股野味。

我把她扶上我的骏马，

终日里目不他视

只因她斜倚一侧，

哼着仙曲一支。

我为她编了一顶花冠，

一根芬芳的环带，还打了一对手镯；

她发出了甜蜜的呻吟，

一片真情似地看着我。

她发现我是味道甜甜的草根，

又恰似甘露和野蜜，

于是娇嗔地说了句，

“我真地很爱你！”

她把我带到了她的妖洞，

又是打量又是唏嘘，

我合上了她狂野而哀戚的眼睛——

在亲吻中睡去。

我们睡在苔藓上，

我做了个梦，啊！糟糕，

我刚刚做了一个梦

在这寒冷的半山腰。

我见到了苍白的国王和王子，

苍白的武士，个个面色煞白如死猪；

口中喊道——“无情的美女

已把你俘虏！”

朦胧中我看见他们馋嘴大张，

给人以可怕的预兆，

一觉醒来，我发现自己身躺

在这寒冷的半山腰。

所以，我才在此处逗留，

独自沮丧闲荡，

尽管沙草已在湖水中枯去，

听不见鸟儿歌唱

http://www.cssn.cn/wx/wx_ymwx/201310/t20131026_599765.shtml

阅读原文