IN THE DARK

 A BLOTCH¹ of pallor stirs beneath the high

     Square picture-dusk, the window of dark sky.

 

     A sound subdued² in the darkness: tears!

     As if a bird in difficulty up the valley steers³.

 

     "Why have you gone to the window? Why don't

        you sleep?

     How you have wakened me! But why, why do

        you weep?"

 

     "I am afraid of you, I am afraid, afraid!

     There is something in you destroys me—!"

 

     "You have dreamed and are not awake, come here

        to me."

     "No, I have wakened. It is you, you are cruel to

     me!"

 

     "My dear!"—"Yes, yes, you are cruel to me. You

        cast

     A shadow over my breasts that will kill me at last."

 

     "Come!"—"No, I'm a thing of life. I give

     You armfuls of sunshine, and you won't let me live."

 

     "Nay, I'm too sleepy!"—"Ah, you are horrible;

     You stand before me like ghosts, like a darkness

        upright."

 

     "I!"—"How can you treat me so, and love me?

     My feet have no hold, you take the sky from above me."

 

     "My dear, the night is soft and eternal, no doubt

     You love it!"—"It is dark, it kills me, I am put out."

 

     "My dear, when you cross the street in the sun-

        shine, surely

     Your own small night goes with you. Why treat

        it so poorly?"

 

     "No, no, I dance in the sun, I'm a thing of life—"

     "Even then it is dark behind you. Turn round,

        my wife."

 

     "No, how cruel you are, you people the sunshine

     With shadows!"—"With yours I people the

     sunshine, yours and mine—"

 

     "In the darkness we all are gone, we are gone

        with the trees

     And the restless river;—we are lost and gone

        with all these."

 

     "But I am myself, I have nothing to do with these."

     "Come back to bed, let us sleep on our mys-

        teries.

 

     "Come to me here, and lay your body by mine,

     And I will be all the shadow, you the shine.

 

     "Come, you are cold, the night has frightened you.

     Hark at the river! It pants as it hurries through

 

     "The pine-woods. How I love them so, in their

        mystery of not-to-be."

     "—But let me be myself, not a river or a tree."

 

     "Kiss me! How cold you are!—Your little breasts

     Are bubbles of ice. Kiss me!—You know how

        it rests

 

     "One to be quenched⁴, to be given up, to be gone

        in the dark;

     To be blown out, to let night dowse the spark.

 

     "But never mind, my love. Nothing matters,

        save sleep;

     Save you, and me, and sleep; all the rest will

        keep."

     MUTILATION

 

     A THICK mist-sheet lies over the broken wheat.

     I walk up to my neck in mist, holding my mouth up.

     Across there, a discoloured moon burns itself out.

 

     I hold the night in horror;

     I dare not turn round.

 

     To-night I have left her alone.

     They would have it I have left her for ever.

 

     Oh my God, how it aches

     Where she is cut off from me!

 

     Perhaps she will go back to England.

     Perhaps she will go back,

     Perhaps we are parted for ever.

 

     If I go on walking through the whole breadth of

          Germany

     I come to the North Sea, or the Baltic.

 

     Over there is Russia—Austria, Switzerland, France,

          in a circle!

     I here in the undermist on the Bavarian road.

 

     It aches in me.

     What is England or France, far off,

     But a name she might take?

     I don't mind this continent stretching, the sea far

          away;

     It aches in me for her

     Like the agony of limbs cut off and aching;

     Not even longing⁵,

     It is only agony.

 

     A cripple!

     Oh God, to be mutilated!

     To be a cripple!

 

     And if I never see her again?

 

     I think, if they told me so

     I could convulse the heavens with my horror.

     I think I could alter the frame of things in my

          agony.

     I think I could break the System with my heart.

     I think, in my convulsion, the skies would break.

 

     She too suffers.

     But who could compel her, if she chose me against

          them all?

     She has not chosen me finally, she suspends her

          choice.

     Night folk, Tuatha De Danaan, dark Gods, govern

          her sleep,

     Magnificent ghosts of the darkness, carry off her

          decision in sleep,

     Leave her no choice, make her lapse⁶ me-ward,

          make her,

     Oh Gods of the living Darkness, powers of Night.

 

       WOLFRATSHAUSEN

 

1 blotch   

n.大斑点；红斑点；v.使沾上污渍，弄脏

参考例句：

• He pointed to a dark blotch upon the starry sky some miles astern of us.他指着我们身后几英里处繁星点点的天空中的一朵乌云。
• His face was covered in ugly red blotches.他脸上有许多难看的红色大斑点。

2 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

3 steers   

n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• This car steers easily. 这部车子易于驾驶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fodder fleshed the steers up. 优质饲料使菜牛长肉。 来自辞典例句

4 quenched   

解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却

参考例句：

• He quenched his thirst with a long drink of cold water. 他喝了好多冷水解渴。
• I quenched my thirst with a glass of cold beer. 我喝了一杯冰啤酒解渴。

5 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

6 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。