·坡最终离开军校的原因。——译者注

②　指英国哲学家约翰·洛克（John Locke，1632—1704）。——译者注

To Helen

Helen, thy beauty is to me

Like those Nicéan barks of yore,

That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,

The weary way-worn wanderer bore

To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,

Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home

To the glory that was Greece,

And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche

How statue-like I see thee stand,

The agate lamp within thy hand!

Ah, Psyche, from the regions which

Are Holy-land!

(1831)

致海伦①

海伦，你的美丽对于我，

就像昔日尼斯安的小船，

在芳菲的大海轻轻颠簸，

载着精疲力竭的流浪汉

驶向他故乡的岸边。

早已习惯漂泊在汹涌的海上，

你堇色的秀发，典雅的容颜

和仙女般的风姿已令我知详

何谓希腊的华美壮观，

何谓罗马的宏伟辉煌。

瞧！在那明亮的壁龛窗里，

我看你玉立多像尊雕塑，

那镶嵌玛瑙的明灯在手！

啊，普叙赫，你来自圣地，②

那片天国净土！

（1831）

注释

①　爱伦·坡写过两首《致海伦》。前一首发表于1831年，诗中的海伦是爱伦·坡少年时暗恋过的简·斯坦纳德（Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard）。斯坦纳德夫人是爱伦·坡的同学罗伯特·斯坦纳德的母亲，她端庄美丽，成了少年爱伦·坡心中美的偶像。1824年4月，31岁的斯坦纳德夫人病故，爱伦·坡为此非常伤心，其后很长一段时间他神思恍惚，常做噩梦，而且多次在夜里到斯坦纳德夫人坟头哭泣。这种“失美之痛”使他写出了第一首《致海伦》。后一首《致海伦》发表于1848年，诗中的海伦指女诗人萨拉·海伦·惠特曼（Sarah Helen Whitman），爱伦·坡曾于当年向她求过婚。——译者注

②　普叙赫（Psyche）在希腊神话中是人灵魂的化身，爱神厄洛斯为她的美貌所倾倒并最终娶她为妻。她在艺术作品中通常被描绘成有蝴蝶翅膀的少女。——译者注

Israfel

And the angel Israfel, whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God's creatures.

—KORAN.

In Heaven a spirit doth dwell

"Whose heart-strings are a lute;"

None sing so wildly well

As the angel Israfel,

And the giddy stars (so legends tell)

Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell

Of his voice, all mute.

Tottering above

In her highest noon,

The enamoured moon

Blushes with love,

While, to listen, the red levin

(With the rapid Pleiads, even,

Which were seven,)

Pauses in Heaven.

And they say (the starry choir

And the other listening things)

That Israfeli's fire

Is owing to that lyre

By which he sits and sings—

The trembling living wire

Of those unusual strings.

But the skies that angel trod,

Where deep thoughts are a duty—

Where Love's a grown-up God—

Where the Houri glances are

Imbued with all the beauty

Which we worship in a star.