FIRST MORNING

   THE night was a failure

       but why not—?

 

     In the darkness

        with the pale dawn seething¹ at the window

        through the black frame

        I could not be free,

        not free myself from the past, those others—

        and our love was a confusion,

        there was a horror,

        you recoiled² away from me.

 

     Now, in the morning

     As we sit in the sunshine on the seat by the little

          shrine³,

     And look at the mountain-walls,

     Walls of blue shadow,

     And see so near at our feet in the meadow

     Myriads of dandelion pappus

     Bubbles ravelled in the dark green grass

     Held still beneath the sunshine—

 

     It is enough, you are near—

     The mountains are balanced,

     The dandelion seeds stay half-submerged in the

          grass;

     You and I together

     We hold them proud and blithe⁴

     On our love.

     They stand upright on our love,

     Everything starts from us,

     We are the source.

 

       BEUERBERG

     "AND OH—

       THAT THE MAN I AM

       MIGHT CEASE TO BE—"

 

     No, now I wish the sunshine would stop,

     and the white shining houses, and the gay red

         flowers on the balconies

     and the bluish mountains beyond, would be crushed

         out

     between two valves of darkness;

     the darkness falling, the darkness rising, with

         muffled sound

     obliterating everything.

 

     I wish that whatever props⁵ up the walls of light

     would fall, and darkness would come hurling⁶

         heavily down,

     and it would be thick black dark for ever.

     Not sleep, which is grey with dreams,

     nor death, which quivers with birth,

     but heavy, sealing darkness, silence, all immovable.

 

     What is sleep?

     It goes over me, like a shadow over a hill,

     but it does not alter me, nor help me.

     And death would ache still, I am sure;

     it would be lambent, uneasy.

     I wish it would be completely dark everywhere,

     inside me, and out, heavily dark

     utterly.

 

       WOLFRATSHAUSEN

1 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

2 recoiled   

v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回

参考例句：

• She recoiled from his touch. 她躲开他的触摸。
• Howard recoiled a little at the sharpness in my voice. 听到我的尖声，霍华德往后缩了一下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

4 blithe   

adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的

参考例句：

• Tonight,however,she was even in a blithe mood than usual.但是，今天晚上她比往常还要高兴。
• He showed a blithe indifference to her feelings.他显得毫不顾及她的感情。

5 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

6 hurling   

n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• The boat rocked wildly, hurling him into the water. 这艘船剧烈地晃动，把他甩到水中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Fancy hurling away a good chance like that, the silly girl! 想想她竟然把这样一个好机会白白丢掉了，真是个傻姑娘！ 来自《简明英汉词典》