Had I not seen the Sun

如果我不曾见过太阳

By Emily Dickinson

Had I not seen the Sun,

I could have borne the shade;

But Light a newer Wilderness,

My Wilderness has made.

我本可以容忍黑暗，如果我不曾见过太阳，

然而阳光已使我的荒凉，成为更新的荒凉。

If you were coming in the fall,

I ’d brush the summer by

With half a smile and half a spurn,

As housewives do a fly.

如果你能在秋季到来，我会用掸子把夏季掸掉，

一半轻蔑，一半含笑。

I never spoke with God,

Nor visited in Heaven--

Yet certain am I of the spot,

As if the Checks were given--

我从未与上帝交谈，也不曾拜访过天堂。

可我好像已通过检查，一定会到那个地方。

If recollecting were forgetting,

Then I remember not.

And if forgetting, recollecting,

How near I had forgot.

如果记住就是忘却,我将不再回忆。

如果忘却就是记住，我多么接近于忘却。

I had no time to hate,

because the grave would hinder me.

And life was not so sample I could finish enmity.

我没有时间憎恨，因为坟墓会将我阻止。

而生命并非如此简单，能使我敌意终止。

A throe upon the features.

A hurry in the breath.

An ecstasy of parting.

Denominated "Death".

剧痛在于特征上，急切在于迹象。

告别的狂喜，称之为“死亡”

“Hope” is the thing with feathers.

That perches in the soul.

And sings the tune without the words.

And never stops - at all -“

希望”长着翅膀， 栖息在灵魂上，

唱着无言的歌， 永远不会消亡。

That it will never come again is what makes life sweet.

生活不会重来，这正是它美好的原因。

Forever is composed of nows.

永恒是由每一个当下组成的。

Grand go the years in the crescent above them;

Worlds scoop their arcs,

and firmaments row,

Diadems drop and Doges surrender.

Soundless as dots on a disk of snow.

时光在头顶的弯月中飞逝无踪。

世界收敛起圆弧的身形，天体划动。

皇冠坠落，总督俯首。

雪野上的碎屑一般静寂无声。

We turn not older with years,

but newer every day.

我们并非在年复一年地变老，

而是日复一日地焕然一新。

I argue thee that love is life.

And life hath immortality.

我告诉你，爱就是生命，

生命可以不朽。