De Erotio Puella

THIS girl was sweeter than the song of swans,

And daintier than the lamb upon the lawns

Or Curine oyster¹. She, the flower of girls,

Outshone the light of Erythraean pearls;

The teeth of India that with polish glow,

The untouched lilies or the morning snow.

Her tresses did gold-dust outshine

And fair hair of women of the Rhine.

Compared to her the peacock seemed not fair,

The squirrel lively, or the phoenix² rare;

Her on whose pyre the smoke still hovering³ waits;

Her whom the greedy and unequal fates

On the sixth dawning of her natal⁴ day,

My child-love and my playmate — snatcht away.

1 oyster   

n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人

参考例句：

• I enjoy eating oyster; it's really delicious.我喜欢吃牡蛎，它味道真美。
• I find I fairly like eating when he finally persuades me to taste the oyster.当他最后说服我尝尝牡蛎时，我发现我相当喜欢吃。

2 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

3 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

4 natal   

adj.出生的，先天的

参考例句：

• Many music-lovers make pilgrimages to Mozart's natal place.很多爱好音乐的人去访问莫扎特的出生地。
• Since natal day,characters possess the visual elements such as dots and strokes.文字从诞生开始便具有了点画这样的视觉元素。