Love’s Secret

By William Blake

Never seek to tell thy love,

Love that never told can be;

For the gentle wind does move

Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,

I told her all my heart;

Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears,

Ah! she did depart!

Soon as she was gone from me,

A traveler came by,

Silently, invisibly

He took her with a sigh.

愛情的秘密

威廉.布萊克

朱光潛譯

切莫告訴你的愛情，

愛情是永遠不可以告訴的，

因為她像微風一樣，

不做聲不做氣地吹著。

我曾經把我的愛情告訴了又告訴，

我把一切都披肝瀝膽地告訴愛人了。

打著寒顫，聳頭發地苦訴，

然而她終于離我而去了!

她離我去了，

不多時一個過客來了。

不做聲不做氣地，只微嘆一聲，

便把她帶去了。

About the poet:

William Blake (28 November 1757–12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Although he lived in London his entire life except for three years spent in Felpham he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".

Notes:

"Love" is one of the forever-lasting topics of the literary works.However, there is no doubt that "love" is abstract which we can’t see, touch and smell but feel.In this poem, the poet shows us the concret "love" and attraction between humans.