nced, adown the gorgeous vista,

And thrilling as I see upon the right,

Upon the left, and all the way along

Amid enpurpled vapors, far away

To where the prospect terminates—thee only.

(1848)

致（“曾几何时”）①

曾几何时，写出以下诗行的诗人

还为才智而骄傲，还自以为是，

还坚信“言语的力量”——并否认②

任何产生于人们大脑的思想

会超越人们舌头的表达能力；

而现在，仿佛是对他自负的嘲讽，

两个词——两个柔和的异国双音节词——

被造就只适宜用意大利声调呢哝，

只适宜那些在月光下的“赫尔蒙山上的

珍珠般的夜露中做梦的天使梦呓”——③

已经在他的心灵深处涌动，

思想之灵魂的未加深思的思想，

更丰富、更激烈、更神圣的想象，

甚至超过以色拉费的那张竖琴，

尽管他有“神之造物中最美的声音”，④

希望表达。而我！我的力量被消除。

笔从我颤抖的手中无力地落地。

以你可爱的名字为题，虽由你吩咐，

我不能写——不能说——不能想，

天啦，我不能感觉；因为这不是感觉：

这一动不动地站在敞开的梦幻之门

那黄金铸的门槛上，凝视，

出神地向下凝视那绮丽的景色，

心儿扑扑直跳，当我看向右边，

向左边，在向前延伸的整条路上，

在紫色的雾霭中，在迢迢远方，

在景色消失的天边——只有你。

（1848）

注释

①　这首诗也是写给玛丽·路易斯·休的。——译者注

②　爱伦·坡有篇对话体小说即名为《言语的力量》（The Power of Words，1845），该篇借一对恋人亡灵的对话说：“言语有其自然力量，每一个字都对空气有一道脉冲。”——译者注

③　语出英国剧作家乔治·皮尔（George Peele，1556—1596）的圣经剧《大卫王和美丽的贝斯赛白》。——编者注

④　参见《以色拉费》题头诗3—4行。——译者注

Ulalume

The skies they were ashen and sober;

The leaves they were crispéd and sere—

The leaves they were withering and sere:

It was night, in the lonesome October

Of my most immemorial year:

It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,

In the misty mid region of Weir:—

It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,

In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Here once, through an alley Titanic,

Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul—

Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.

These were days when my heart was volcanic

As the scoriac rivers that roll—

As the lavas that restlessly roll

Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek,

In the ultimate climes of the Pole—

That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek,

In the realms of the Boreal Pole.

Our talk had been serious and sober,

But our thoughts they were palsied and sere—

Our memories were treacherous and sere;

For we knew not the month was October,

And we marked not the night of the year—

(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)

We noted not the dim lake of Auber,

(Though once we had journeyed down here)

We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,

Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

And now, as the night was senescent,

And star-