兩幅母親肖像前的英語詩歌欣賞

Before Two Portraits of My Mother

I love the beautiful young girl of this

portrait, my mother, painted years ago

when her forehead was white, and there was no

shadow in the dazzling Venetian glass

of her gaze. But this other likeness shows

the deep trenches across her forehead’s white

marble. The rose poem of her youth that

her marriage sang is far behind. Here is

my sadness: I compare these portraits, one

of a joy-radiant brow, the other care-

heavy: sunrise—and the thick coming on

of night. And yet how strange my ways appear,

for when I look at these faded lips my heart

smiles, but at the smiling girl my tears start.

我深愛這名美麗少女的

畫像，她是我的母親，繪製於多年前

當時她的前額白皙無瑕

如同威尼斯玻璃般閃亮，沒有一絲陰影

在她雙眸中。但另一幅肖像顯出

深深的紋痕佈滿她皎白大理石般平滑的前額

她少女時的'那

首玫瑰情詩

曾在她婚禮中被詠唱，如今已經遠去。

此時我心悲傷：比較這兩幅肖像，一幅顯得

神情愉悅，另一幅顯得心事

重重：一幅如同朝陽初升——另一幅則如迎面而來的陰鬱

黑夜。然而我的反應卻顯得非比尋常，

因為當我看著她失去光澤的雙脣，我心

發出微笑，但看著那名微笑的少女，我的淚竟開始湧出。