Mutability 無常

Percy Bysshe Shelley 珀西·比西·雪萊

We are the clouds that veil the midnight moon;

How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,

Streaking the darkness radiantly!--yet soon

Night closes round, and they are lost forever:

Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings

Give various response to each varying blast,

To whose frail frame no second motion brings

One mood or modulation like the last.

We rest.--A dream has power to poison sleep;

We rise.--One wandering thought pollutes the day;

We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;

Embrace fond foe, or cast our cares away:

It is the same!--For, be it joy or sorrow,

The path of its departure still is free:

Man';s yesterday may ne';er be like his morrow;

Nought may endure but Mutability.

我們象遮蔽午夜之月的雲彩；

它一刻不停地奔跑，閃耀，顫栗，

向黑暗放出燦爛的光輝！——但很快

夜幕合攏了，它就永遠隐去；

又象被忘卻的琴，不調和的弦

每次撥弄都發出不同的音響，

在那纖弱的樂器上，每次重彈，

情調和音節都不會和前次一樣。

我們睡下：一場夢能毒戕安息；

我們起來：遊思又會玷污白天；

我們感覺，思索，想象，笑或哭泣，

無論抱住悲傷，或者摔脫憂煩：

終歸是一樣！——因為呵，在這世間，

無論是喜悅或悲傷都會溜走：

我們的明日從不再象昨天，

唉，除了“無常”，一切都不肯停留。