BALLAD OF A WILFUL WOMAN

           FIRST PART

 

     UPON her plodding¹ palfrey

     With a heavy child at her breast

     And Joseph holding the bridle²

     They mount to the last hill-crest³.

 

     Dissatisfied and weary

     She sees the blade of the sea

     Dividing earth and heaven

     In a glitter of ecstasy⁴.

 

     Sudden a dark-faced stranger

     With his back to the sun, holds out

     His arms; so she lights from her palfrey

     And turns her round about.

 

     She has given the child to Joseph,

     Gone down to the flashing shore;

     And Joseph, shading his eyes with his hand,

     Stands watching evermore.

 

                 SECOND PART

 

     THE sea in the stones is singing,

     A woman binds⁵ her hair

     With yellow, frail⁶ sea-poppies,

     That shine as her fingers stir.

 

     While a naked man comes swiftly

     Like a spurt⁷ of white foam⁸ rent

     From the crest of a falling breaker,

     Over the poppies sent.

 

     He puts his surf-wet fingers

     Over her startled eyes,

     And asks if she sees the land, the land,

     The land of her glad surmise⁹.

 

                 THIRD PART

 

     AGAIN in her blue, blue mantle¹⁰

     Riding at Joseph's side,

     She says, "I went to Cythera,

     And woe¹¹ betide!"

 

     Her heart is a swinging cradle

     That holds the perfect child,

     But the shade on her forehead ill becomes

     A mother mild.

 

     So on with the slow, mean journey

     In the pride of humility¹²;

     Till they halt at a cliff on the edge of the land

     Over a sullen¹³ sea.

 

     While Joseph pitches the sleep-tent

     She goes far down to the shore

     To where a man in a heaving boat

     Waits with a lifted oar¹⁴.

 

                 FOURTH PART

 

     THEY dwelt in a huge, hoarse¹⁵ sea-cave

     And looked far down the dark

     Where an archway torn and glittering

     Shone like a huge sea-spark.

 

     He said: "Do you see the spirits

     Crowding the bright doorway¹⁶?"

     He said: "Do you hear them whispering?"

     He said: "Do you catch what they say?"

 

                 FIFTH PART

 

     THEN Joseph, grey with waiting,

     His dark eyes full of pain,

     Heard: "I have been to Patmos;

     Give me the child again."

 

     Now on with the hopeless journey

     Looking bleak¹⁷ ahead she rode,

     And the man and the child of no more account

     Than the earth the palfrey trode.

 

     Till a beggar spoke¹⁸ to Joseph,

     But looked into her eyes;

     So she turned, and said to her husband:

     "I give, whoever denies."

 

                 SIXTH PART

 

     SHE gave on the open heather

     Beneath bare judgment¹⁹ stars,

     And she dreamed of her children and Joseph,

     And the isles²⁰, and her men, and her scars.

 

     And she woke to distil²¹ the berries

     The beggar had gathered at night,

     Whence he drew the curious liquors

     He held in delight.

 

     He gave her no crown of flowers,

     No child and no palfrey slow,

     Only led her through harsh, hard places

     Where strange winds blow.

 

     She follows his restless wanderings

     Till night when, by the fire's red stain,

     Her face is bent²² in the bitter steam

     That comes from the flowers of pain.

 

     Then merciless and ruthless

     He takes the flame-wild drops

     To the town, and tries to sell them

     With the market-crops.

 

     So she follows the cruel journey

     That ends not anywhere,

     And dreams, as she stirs the mixing-pot,

     She is brewing²³ hope from despair.

 

       TRIER

1 plodding   

a.proceeding in a slow or dull way

参考例句：

• They're still plodding along with their investigation. 他们仍然在不厌其烦地进行调查。
• He is plodding on with negotiations. 他正缓慢艰难地进行着谈判。

2 bridle   

n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒

参考例句：

• He learned to bridle his temper.他学会了控制脾气。
• I told my wife to put a bridle on her tongue.我告诉妻子说话要谨慎。

3 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

4 ecstasy   

n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷

参考例句：

• He listened to the music with ecstasy.他听音乐听得入了神。
• Speechless with ecstasy,the little boys gazed at the toys.小孩注视着那些玩具，高兴得说不出话来。

5 binds   

v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕

参考例句：

• Frost binds the soil. 霜使土壤凝结。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stones and cement binds strongly. 石头和水泥凝固得很牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

7 spurt   

v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆

参考例句：

• He put in a spurt at the beginning of the eighth lap.他进入第八圈时便开始冲刺。
• After a silence, Molly let her anger spurt out.沉默了一会儿，莫莉的怒气便迸发了出来。

8 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

9 surmise   

v./n.猜想，推测

参考例句：

• It turned out that my surmise was correct.结果表明我的推测没有错。
• I surmise that he will take the job.我推测他会接受这份工作。

10 mantle   

n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红

参考例句：

• The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
• The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。

11 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

12 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

13 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

14 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

15 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

16 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

17 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

18 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

19 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

20 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。

21 distil   

vt.蒸馏；提取…的精华，精选出

参考例句：

• You can distil fresh water from the sea.你可以用蒸馏法从海水中提取淡水。
• The writer managed to distil his ideas into one succinct article.作家努力把他的想法浓缩成一篇简练的文章。

22 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

23 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。