Autodidact 自學者: 拜倫詩集

中五會考後無聊，看小說看厭了就找來了一本小詩集《她還我的最後一笑》，收錄了英國詩人拜倫(Lord Byron)的情詩，中英對照，從此迷上了浪漫時期的英文詩歌。

拜倫一生放浪不羈，敢愛(情人)敢恨(社會)。歐遊回國後不久，拜倫得知情人早逝。生死離別，自古常聞，但拜倫在悲痛之下寫了不少紀念情人的名詩。詩句充滿了激越的吶喊，在訴說曲折的命運和難違的天意；這種感情化成筆墨投在紙上，絕非日韓電視劇所表現的那樣嘔心。

To Thyrza

Without a stone to mark the spot,
   And say, what Truth might well have said,
By all, save one, perchance forgot,
   Ah! wherefore art thou lowly laid?

By many a shore and many a sea
   Divided, yet beloved in vain;
The Past, the Future fled to thee,
   To bid us meet—no—ne’er again!

Could this have been—a word, a look,
   That softly said, “We part in peace,”
Had taught my bosom how to brook,
   With fainter sighs, thy soul’s release.

And didst thou not, since Death for thee
   Prepared a light and pangless dart,
Once long for him thou ne’er shalt see,
   Who held, and holds thee in his heart?

Oh! who like him had watched thee here?
   Or sadly marked thy glazing eye,
In that dread hour ere Death appear,
   When silent Sorrow fears to sigh,

Till all was past? But when no more
   ’Twas thine to reck of human woe,
Affection’s heart-drops, gushing o’er,
   Had flowed as fast—as now they flow.

Shall they not flow, when many a day
   In these, to me, deserted towers,
Ere called but for a time away,
   Affection’s mingling tears were ours?

Ours too the glance none saw beside;
   The smile none else might understand;
The whispered thought of hearts allied,
   The pressure of the thrilling hand;

The kiss, so guiltless and refined,
   That Love each warmer wish forbore;
Those eyes proclaimed so pure a mind,
   Ev’n Passion blushed to plead for more.

The tone, that taught me to rejoice,
   When prone, unlike thee, to repine;
The song, celestial from thy voice,
   But sweet to me from none but thine;

The pledge we wore—I wear it still,
   But where is thine?—Ah! where art thou?
Oft have I borne the weight of ill,
   But never bent beneath till now!

Well hast thou left in Life’s best bloom
   The cup of Woe for me to drain.
If rest alone be in the tomb,
   I would not wish thee here again:

But if in worlds more blest than this
   Thy virtues seek a fitter sphere,
Impart some portion of thy bliss,
   To wean me from mine anguish here.

Teach me—too early taught by thee!
   To bear, forgiving and forgiven:
On earth thy love was such to me;
   It fain would form my hope in Heaven!

(Thyrza是女子名，但拜倫那時候的情人是男的。)

原本已經收藏了一本1912年牛津大學出版的硬皮，朋友V在劍橋找到一本1909年的版本，送了過來。他說書商看錯年份，以為是1969年印刷，所以賣平了很多。兩本的設計不同，但都漂亮極了。