Death Be Not Proud

by John Donne

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroak; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

死神，你莫驕傲

死神，你莫驕傲，盡管有人說你

如何強(qiáng)大，如何可怕，你并不是這樣;

你以為你把誰誰誰****了，其實(shí)，

可憐的死神，他們沒死;你現(xiàn)在也還殺不死我。

休息、睡眠，這些不過是你的寫照，

既能給人享受，那你本人提供的一定更多;

我們最美好的人隨你去得越早，

越能早日獲得身體的休息，靈魂的解脫。

你是命運(yùn)、機(jī)會、君主、亡命徒的奴隸，

你和毒藥、戰(zhàn)爭、疾病同住在一起，

罌粟和咒符和你的打擊相比，同樣，

甚至更能催我入睡;那你何必趾高氣揚(yáng)呢?

睡了一小覺之后，我們便永遠(yuǎn)覺醒了，

再也不會有死亡，你死神也將死去。

(楊周翰 譯)

(這首詩選自約翰-多恩的《神圣十四行詩》。詩中說明死亡是瞬間的，而死后的歡樂則是永恒的。)

注釋：dost：動詞do的第二人稱單數(shù)現(xiàn)在時(shí)的古用法。

canst：情態(tài)動詞can第二人稱單數(shù)現(xiàn)在時(shí)的古用法。

swell'st：swell第二人稱單數(shù)現(xiàn)在時(shí)形式。

shalt：即shall。