ONE WOMAN TO ALL WOMEN

      I DON'T care whether I am beautiful to you

             You other women.

     Nothing of me that you see is my own;

     A man balances, bone unto bone

     Balances, everything thrown

             In the scale, you other women.

 

     You may look and say to yourselves, I do

             Not show like the rest.

     My face may not please you, nor my stature¹; yet

        if you knew

     How happy I am, how my heart in the wind rings

        true

     Like a bell that is chiming, each stroke as a stroke

        falls due,

             You other women:

 

     You would draw your mirror towards you, you

        would wish

             To be different.

     There's the beauty you cannot see, myself and

        him

     Balanced in glorious equilibrium²,

     The swinging beauty of equilibrium,

             You other women.

 

     There's this other beauty, the way of the stars

             You straggling women.

     If you knew how I swerve³ in peace, in the equi-

        poise⁴

     With the man, if you knew how my flesh enjoys

     The swinging bliss⁵ no shattering ever destroys

             You other women:

 

     You would envy me, you would think me wonder-

        ful

             Beyond compare;

     You would weep to be lapsing⁶ on such harmony

     As carries me, you would wonder aloud that he

     Who is so strange should correspond with me

             Everywhere.

 

     You see he is different, he is dangerous,

             Without pity or love.

     And yet how his separate being liberates⁷ me

     And gives me peace! You cannot see

     How the stars are moving in surety

             Exquisite, high above.

 

     We move without knowing, we sleep, and we

        travel on,

             You other women.

     And this is beauty to me, to be lifted and gone

     In a motion human inhuman⁸, two and one

     Encompassed, and many reduced to none,

             You other women.

 

      KENSINGTON

 该作者的其它作品
《恋爱中的女人 Women in Love》

《儿子与情人 Sons and Lovers》
《The White Peacock白孔雀》

1 stature   

n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材

参考例句：

• He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
• The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。

2 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

3 swerve   

v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离

参考例句：

• Nothing will swerve him from his aims.什么也不能使他改变目标。
• Her car swerved off the road into a 6ft high brick wall.她的车突然转向冲出了马路，撞向6英尺高的一面砖墙。

4 poise   

vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信

参考例句：

• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise.她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。
• Ballet classes are important for poise and grace.芭蕾课对培养优雅的姿仪非常重要。

5 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。

6 lapsing   

v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He tried to say, but his voice kept lapsing. 他是想说这句话，可已经抖得语不成声了。 来自辞典例句
• I saw the pavement lapsing beneath my feet. 我看到道路在我脚下滑过。 来自辞典例句

7 liberates   

解放，释放( liberate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• On the contrary, my caring liberates both of us. 与此相反，我的关心会使我们两个都不受到束缚。
• May cause severe burns. Contact with acids liberates toxic gas. 可导致严重灼伤。与酸接触会释放有毒气体。

8 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。