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第6部分

venus and adonis-第6部分

小说: venus and adonis 字数: 每页4000字

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  Yet sometimes falls an orient drop beside;

  Which her cheek melts; as scorning it should pass

    To wash the foul face of the sluttish ground;

    Who is but drunken when she seemeth drowned。



  O hard…believing love; how strange it seems

  Not to believe; and yet too credulous!

  Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes;

  Despair; and hope makes thee ridiculous:

    The one doth flatter thee in thoughts unlikely;

    In likely thoughts the other kills thee quickly。



  Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought;

  Adonis lives; and Death is not to blame;

  It was not she that called him all to nought。

  Now she adds honours to his hateful name;

    She clepes him king of graves; and grave for kings;

    Imperious supreme of all mortal things。



  'No; no;' quoth she; 'sweet Death; I did but jest;

  Yet pardon me; I felt a kind of fear

  When as I met the boar; that bloody beast;

  Which knows no pity; but is still severe。

    Then; gentle shadow… truth I must confess…

    I railed on thee; fearing my love's decease。



  ''Tis not my fault: the boar provoked my tongue;

  Be wreaked on him; invisible commander;

  'Tis he; foul creature; that hath done thee wrong;

  I did but act; he's author of thy slander。

    Grief hath two tongues; and never woman yet

    Could rule them both withbut ten women's wit。'



  Thus; hoping that Adonis is alive;

  Her rash suspect she doth extenuate;

  And that his beauty may the better thrive;

  With Death she humbly doth insinuate;

    Tells him of trophies; statues; tombs; and stories

    His victories; his triumphs and his glories。



  'O Jove;' quoth she; 'how much a fool was I

  To be of such a weak and silly mind

  To wail his death who lives and must not die

  Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind!

    For he being dead; with him is Beauty slain;

    And; Beauty dead; black Chaos comes again。



  'Fie; fie; fond love; thou art as full of fear

  As one with treasure laden; hemmed with thieves;

  Trifles unwitnessed with eye or ear

  Thy coward heart with false bethinking grieves。'

    Even at this word she hears a merry horn;

    Whereat she leaps that was but late forlorn。



  As falcons to the lure; away she flies;

  The grass stoops not; she treads on it so light;

  And in her haste unfortunately spies

  The foul boar's conquest on her fair delight;

    Which seen; her eyes; as murd'red with the view;

    Like stars ashamed of day; themselves withdrew;



  Or as the snail; whose tender horns being hit;

  Shrinks backward in his shelly cave with pain;

  And there all smoth'red up in shade doth sit;

  Long after fearing to creep forth again;

    So at his bloody view her eyes are fled

    Into the deep…dark cabins of her head;



  Where they resign their office and their light

  To the disposing of her troubled brain;

  Who bids them still consort with ugly night;

  And never wound the heart with looks again;

    Who; like a king perplexed in his throne;

    By their suggestion gives a deadly groan;



  Whereat each tributary subject quakes;

  As when the wind; imprisoned in the ground;

  Struggling for passage; earth's foundation shakes;

  Which with cold terror doth men's minds confound。

    This mutiny each part doth so surprise;

    That from their dark beds once more leap her eyes;



  And being opened; threw unwilling light

  Upon the wide wound that the boar had trenched

  In his soft flank; whose wonted lily white

  With purple tears that his wound wept was drenched:

    No flower was nigh; no grass; herb; leaf or weed;

    But stole his blood and seemed with him to bleed。



  This solemn sympathy poor Venus noteth;

  Over one shoulder doth she hang her head;

  Dumbly she passions; franticly she doteth;

  She thinks he could not die; he is not dead。

    Her voice is stopped; her joints forget to bow;

    Her eyes are mad that they have wept till now。



  Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly

  That her sight dazzling makes the wound seem three;

  And then she reprehends her mangling eye

  That makes more gashes where no breach should be:

    His face seems twain; each several limb is doubled;

    For oft the eye mistakes; the brain being troubled。



  'My tongue cannot express my grief for one;

  And yet;' quoth she; 'behold two Adons dead!

  My sighs are blown away; my salt tears gone;

  Mine eyes are turned to fire; my heart to lead;

    Heavy heart's lead; melt at mine eyes' red fire!

    So shall I die by drops of hot desire。



  'Alas; poor world; what treasure hast thou lost!

  What face remains alive that's worth the viewing?

  Whose tongue is music now? what canst thou boast

  Of things long since; or any thing ensuing?

    The flowers are sweet; their colours fresh and trim;

    But true sweet beauty lived and died with him。



  'Bonnet nor veil henceforth no creature wear;

  Nor sun nor wind will ever strive to kiss you。

  Having no fair to lose; you need not fear;

  The sun doth scorn you; and the wind doth hiss you。

    But when Adonis lived; sun and sharp air

    Lurked like two thieves to rob him of his fair;



  'And therefore would he put his bonnet on;

  Under whose brim the gaudy sun would peep;

  The wind would blow it off; and; being gone;

  Play with his locks。 Then would Adonis weep;

    And straight; in pity of his tender years;

    They both would strive who first should dry his tears。



  'To see his face the lion walked along

  Behind some hedge; because he would not fear him;

  To recreate himself when he hath sung;

  The tiger would be tame and gently hear him;

    If he had spoke; the wolf would leave his prey;

    And never fright the silly lamb that day。



  'When he beheld his shadow in the brook;

  The fishes spread on it their golden gills;

  When he was by; the birds such pleasure took

  That some would sing; some other in their bills

    Would bring him mulberries and ripe…red cherries;

    He fed them with his sight; they him with beffies。



  'But this foul; grim; and urchin…snouted boar;

  Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave;

  Ne'er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;

  Witness the entertainment that he gave。

    If he did see his face; why then I know

    He thought to kiss him; and hath killed him so。



  ''Tis true; 'tis true; thus was Adonis slain:

  He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear;

  Who did not whet his teeth at him again;

  But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;

    And nuzzling in his flank; the loving swine

    Sheathed unaware the tusk in his soft groin。



  'Had I been toothed like him; I must confess;

  With kissing him I should have killed him first;

  But he is dead; and never did he bless

  My youth with his; the more am I accurst。'

    With this; she falleth in the place she stood;

    And stains her face with his congealed blood。



  She looks upon his lips; and they are pale;

  She takes him by the hand; and that is cold;

  She whispers in his ears a heavy tale;

  As if they heard the woeful words she told;

    She lifts the coffer…lids that close his eyes;

    Where; lo; two lamps; burnt out; in darkness lies;



  Two glasses; where herself herself beheld

  A thousand times; and now no more; reflect;

  Their virtue lost wherein they late excelled;

  And every beauty robbed of his effect。

    'Wonder of time;' quoth she; 'this is my spite;

    That; thou being dead; the day should yet be light。



  'Since thou art dead; lo; here I prophesy

  Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend;

  It shall be waited on with jealousy;

  Find sweet beginning but unsavoury end;

    Ne'er settled equally; but high or low;

    That all love's pleasure shall not match his woe。



  'It shall be fickle; false and full of fraud;

  Bud; and be blasted; in a breathing while;

  The bottom poison; and the top o'erstrawed

  With sweets that shall the truest sight beguile;

    The strongest body shall it make most weak;

    Strike the wise dumb; and teach the fool to speak。



  'It shall be sparing; and too full of riot;

  Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures;

  The staring ruffian shall it keep in quiet;

  Pluck down the rich; enrich the poor with treasures;

    It shall be raging…mad; and silly…mild;

    Make the young old; the old become a child。



  'It shall suspect where is no cause of fear;

  It shall not fear where it should most mistrust;

  It shall be merciful and too severe;

  And most deceiving when it seems most just;

    Perverse it shall be where it shows most toward;

    Put fear to valour; courage to the coward。



  'It shall be cause of war and dire events;

  And set dissension 'twixt the son and sire;

  Subject and servile to all discontents;

  As dry combustious matter is to fire。

    Sith in his prime death doth my love destroy;

    They that love best their loves shall not enjoy。'



  By this the boy that by her side lay killed

  Was melted like a vapour from her sight;

  And in his blood that on the ground lay spilled

  A purple flower sprung up; chequ'red with white;

    Resembling well his pale cheeks; and the blood

    Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood。



  She bows her head the new…sprung flower to smell;

  Comparing it to her Adonis' breath;

  And says within her bosom it shall dwell;

  Since he himself is reft from her by death;

    She crops the stalk; and in the breach appears

    Green…dropping sap; which she compares to tears。



  'Poor flower;' quoth she; 'this was thy father's guise

  Sweet issue of a more sweet…smelling sire

  For every little grief to wet his eyes。

  To grow unto himself was his desire;

    And so 'tis thine; but know; it is as good

    To wither in my breast as in his blood。



  'Here was thy f

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