BOTH SIDES OF THE MEDAL

 AND because you love me

     think you you do not hate me?

     Ha, since you love me

     to ecstasy¹

     it follows you hate me to ecstasy.

 

     Because when you hear me

     go down the road outside the house

     you must come to the window to watch me go,

     do you think it is pure worship?

 

     Because, when I sit in the room,

     here, in my own house,

     and you want to enlarge yourself with this friend of

         mine,

     such a friend as he is,

     yet you cannot get beyond your awareness² of me

     you are held back by my being in the same world

         with you,

     do you think it is bliss³ alone?

     sheer harmony?

 

     No doubt if I were dead, you must

     reach into death after me,

     but would not your hate reach even more madly

         than your love?

     your impassioned, unfinished hate?

 

     Since you have a passion for me,

     as I for you,

     does not that passion stand in your way like a

         Balaam's ass⁴?

     and am I not Balaam's ass

     golden-mouthed occasionally?

     But mostly, do you not detest⁵ my bray⁶?

 

     Since you are confined in the orbit of me

     do you not loathe⁷ the confinement⁸?

     Is not even the beauty and peace of an orbit

     an intolerable prison to you,

     as it is to everybody?

 

     But we will learn to submit

     each of us to the balanced, eternal orbit

     wherein we circle on our fate

     in strange conjunction.

 

     What is chaos⁹, my love?

     It is not freedom.

     A disarray¹⁰ of falling stars coming to nought¹¹.

 

1 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。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

4 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

5 detest   

vt.痛恨，憎恶

参考例句：

• I detest people who tell lies.我恨说谎的人。
• The workers detest his overbearing manner.工人们很讨厌他那盛气凌人的态度。

6 bray   

n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫

参考例句：

• She cut him off with a wild bray of laughter.她用刺耳的狂笑打断了他的讲话。
• The donkey brayed and tried to bolt.这头驴嘶叫着试图脱缰而逃。

7 loathe   

v.厌恶，嫌恶

参考例句：

• I loathe the smell of burning rubber.我厌恶燃着的橡胶散发的气味。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

8 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

9 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

10 disarray   

n.混乱，紊乱，凌乱

参考例句：

• His personal life fell into disarray when his wife left him.妻子离去后，他的个人生活一片混乱。
• Our plans were thrown into disarray by the rail strike.铁路罢工打乱了我们的计划。

11 nought   

n.／adj.无，零

参考例句：

• We must bring their schemes to nought.我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
• One minus one leaves nought.一减一等于零。