女人——

他们既不是人类也不是野兽，

他们是幽灵——

正是他们的君王把丧钟鸣奏——

他鸣奏，鸣奏，鸣奏，鸣奏，

从钟里奏出一曲赞歌！

他快活的胸膛起伏！

随着丧钟的那曲赞歌！

他叫嚷着高歌起舞；

合着丧钟幽幽咽咽的节奏，

合着一种北方神秘的节奏，

合着那一曲赞歌——

发自丧钟——

合着丧钟幽幽咽咽的节奏，

合着一种北方神秘的节奏，

合着钟声的震动——

钟声，钟声，钟声——

呜呜咽咽抽抽噎噎的钟声——

合着幽幽咽咽的节奏，

当他鸣奏，鸣奏，鸣奏，

以快活的北方节奏，

合着钟声的荡荡悠悠——

丧钟，丧钟，丧钟——

合着钟声的荡荡悠悠——

钟声悠悠荡荡，荡荡悠悠——

丧钟，丧钟——

合着呻吟哀号悠悠荡荡、荡荡悠悠的铁钟。

（1848）

注释

①　此诗堪称爱伦·坡所追求的“音乐与思想结合”的典范，俄罗斯作曲家谢尔盖·拉赫玛尼诺夫（1873—1943）据此诗创作了合唱交响曲《钟声》（作品编号35）；英国作曲家约瑟·赫尔布鲁克（1878—1958）为此诗谱写了合唱与乐队曲《钟声·序曲》（作品编号50）；美国民谣歌手菲尔·奥克斯（1940—1976）和苏格兰声乐家诺曼·伍尔夫森（1945—2009）都曾改编并演唱过《钟声》。——译者注

To Helen

I saw thee once—once only—years ago:

I must not say how many—but not many.

It was a July midnight; and from out

A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,

Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,

There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,

With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,

Upon the upturn'd faces of a thousand

Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,

Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe —

Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses

That gave out, in return for the love-light,

Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death—

Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses

That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted

By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.

Clad all in white, upon a violet bank

I saw thee half reclining; while the moon

Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses,

And on thine own, upturn'd—alas, in sorrow!

Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight—

Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,)

That bade me pause before that garden-gate,

To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?

No footstep stirred: the hated world all slept,

Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven!—oh, God!

How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)

Save only thee and me. I paused—I looked—

And in an instant all things disappeared.

(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)

The pearly lustre of the moon went out:

The mossy banks and the meandering paths,

The happy flowers and the repining trees,

Were seen no