当我恐惧

                                         ——约翰·济慈

When I have fears that I may cease to be,

before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,

before high-piled books, in charactery,

hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain;

when I behold, upon the night’s starred face,

huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

and think that I may never live to trace

their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

and when I feel, fair creature of an hour,

that I shall never look upon thee more,

never have relish in the faery power

of unreflecting love; —then on the shore

of the wide world I stand alone, and think

till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

每当我恐惧生命或将止息，

满溢的想法还未汇聚笔端，

不能聚成高高书堆，

如成熟的谷物填满谷仓；

每当我凝望繁星夜空，

壮阔云图传递着大自然的罗曼史，

想到我或许永不能寻踪捉影，

借乍现的灵光妙笔演绎；

当我想到，风采易逝的美人啊，

我将再不能看到你，

不能沉浸在爱情那不假思索的魔力里——

我就像在广袤世界的边缘茕茕孑立，

直到爱情与名誉都没入虚无。