;t.

(1848)

一首谜诗

所罗门·唐·邓斯说，“我们难得发现

半点思想在最深奥的十四行里。

透过所有浅薄的诗行我们一眼看见

像透过那不勒斯软帽那么容易——

一堆垃圾！——怎能向女士奉献？

可比你那彼特拉克式的废话更加无聊——①

最浑噩者涂鸦的猫头鹰似的胡说八道

也竟在你细读的纸上滴溜溜旋转。”

毋庸置疑，所罗门说的不差丝毫。

塔克曼式的诗行完全是肥皂泡泡——②

水上蜉蝣，朝生暮死，那么透明——

但眼前这首诗，你完全可以相信——

日月经天，江河行地，玄妙无穷——

因为那可爱的名字就隐藏在其中。③

（1848）

注释

①　“彼特拉克式的废话”指蹩脚诗人写的十四行诗。彼特拉克（Francesco Petrarca，1304—1374），意大利学者，以其十四行诗著称于世。——译者注

②　暗讽受意大利十四行诗风格影响的波士顿诗人亨利·T. 塔克曼（Henry Theodore Tuckerman，1813—1871）。他于1845年在《民主评论》上发表了一组“轻飘飘的十四行诗”，爱伦·坡对这位诗人和他的诗都不喜欢。——译者注

③　这首十四行诗以《赠——的情人节礼物》的方式（将原文第1行第1个字母、第2行第2个字母……第14行第14个字母连起来）嵌入了Sarah Anna Lewis这个名字。萨拉·安娜·刘易斯是个女诗人，爱伦·坡曾替她修改诗，她也资助过爱伦·坡夫妇。——译者注

The Bells

1

Hear the sledges with the bells—

Silver bells!

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,

In the icy air of night!

While the stars that oversprinkle

All the Heavens, seem to twinkle

With a crystalline delight;

Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the tintinabulation that so musically wells

From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells—

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

2

Hear the mellow wedding bells—

Golden bells!

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!

Through the balmy air of night

How they ring out their delight!—

From the molten-golden notes

And all in tune,

What a liquid ditty floats

To the turtle-dove that listens while she gloats

On the moon!

Oh, from out the sounding cells

What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!

How it swells!

How it dwells

On the future!—how it tells

Of the rapture that impels

To the swinging and the ringing

Of the bells, bells, bells!—

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells—

To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

3

Hear the loud alarum bells—

Brazen bells!

What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

In the startled ear of Night

How they scream out their affright!

Too much horrified to speak,

They can only shriek, shriek,

Out of tune,

In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire—

In a mad expostulation with the dea