THE SPHINX AT GIZEH

 

 

I saw the other day the Sphinx's painted face.

 

She had painted her face in order to ogle¹ Time.

 

And he has spared no other painted face in all the world but hers.

 

Delilah was younger than she, and Delilah is dust. Time hath loved nothing but this worthless painted face.

 

I do not care that she is ugly, nor that she has painted her face, so that she only lure² his secret from Time.

 

Time dallies³ like a fool at her feet when he should be smiting⁴ cities.

 

Time never wearies of her silly smile.

 

There are temples all about her that he has forgotten to spoil.

 

I saw an old man go by, and Time never touched him.

 

Time that has carried away the seven gates of Thebes!

 

She has tried to bind⁵ him with ropes of eternal sand, she had hoped to oppress him with the Pyramids.

 

He lies there in the sand with his foolish hair all spread about her paws.

 

If she ever finds his secret we will put out his eyes, so that he shall find no more our beautiful things—there are lovely gates in Florence that I fear he will carry away.

 

We have tried to bind him with song and with old customs, but they only held him for a little while, and he has always smitten⁶ us and mocked us.

 

When he is blind he shall dance to us and make sport.

 

Great clumsy time shall stumble and dance, who liked to kill little children, and can hurt even the daisies no longer.

 

Then shall our children laugh at him who slew⁷ Babylon's winged bulls, and smote⁸ great numbers of the gods and fairies—when he is shorn of his hours and his years.

 

We will shut him up in the Pyramid of Cheops, in the great chamber⁹ where the sarcophagus is. Thence we will lead him out when we give our feasts. He shall ripen¹⁰ our corn for us and do menial work.

 

We will kiss they painted face, O Sphinx, if thou wilt¹¹ betray to us Time.

 

And yet I fear that in his ultimate anguish¹² he may take hold blindly of the world and the moon, and slowly pull down upon him the House of Man.

1 ogle   

v.看；送秋波；n.秋波，媚眼

参考例句：

• He likes to ogle at the pretty girls.他爱盯着漂亮的女孩子。
• All she did was hang around ogling the men in the factory.她所做的就只是在工厂里荡来荡去，朝男人抛媚眼。

2 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

3 dallies   

v.随随便便地对待( dally的第三人称单数 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情

参考例句：

• She dallies over her work and rarely finishes it. 她工作吊儿郎当，很少能把工作做完。 来自辞典例句
• The pupil always dallies over difficult math problems. 这个学生做数学难题总是慢慢吞吞。 来自辞典例句

4 smiting   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He set to smiting and overthrowing. 他马上就动手殴打和破坏。 来自辞典例句

5 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

6 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

7 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

8 smote   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说，他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒，再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

9 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

10 ripen   

vt.使成熟；vi.成熟

参考例句：

• I'm waiting for the apples to ripen.我正在等待苹果成熟。
• You can ripen the tomatoes on a sunny windowsill.把西红柿放在有阳光的窗台上可以让它们成熟。

11 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

12 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。