HUMILIATION

   I HAVE been so innerly proud, and so long alone,

     Do not leave me, or I shall break.

     Do not leave me.

 

     What should I do if you were gone again

     So soon?

     What should I look for?

     Where should I go?

     What should I be, I myself,

     "I"?

     What would it mean, this

     I?

 

     Do not leave me.

 

     What should I think of death?

     If I died, it would not be you:

     It would be simply the same

     Lack of you.

     The same want, life or death,

     Unfulfilment,

     The same insanity¹ of space

     You not there for me.

 

     Think, I daren't die

     For fear of the lack in death.

     And I daren't live.

 

     Unless there were a morphine or a drug.

 

     I would bear the pain.

     But always, strong, unremitting

     It would make me not me.

     The thing with my body that would go on

        living

     Would not be me.

     Neither life nor death could help.

 

     Think, I couldn't look towards death

     Nor towards the future:

     Only not look.

     Only myself

     Stand still and bind² and blind myself.

 

     God, that I have no choice!

     That my own fulfilment is up against me

     Timelessly!

     The burden of self-accomplishment!

     The charge of fulfilment!

     And God, that she is necessary!

     Necessary, and I have no choice!

 

     Do not leave me.

     A YOUNG WIFE

 

     THE pain of loving you

     Is almost more than I can bear.

 

     I walk in fear of you.

     The darkness starts up where

     You stand, and the night comes through

     Your eyes when you look at me.

 

     Ah never before did I see

     The shadows that live in the sun!

 

     Now every tall glad tree

     Turns round its back to the sun

     And looks down on the ground, to see

     The shadow it used to shun³.

 

     At the foot of each glowing thing

     A night lies looking up.

 

     Oh, and I want to sing

     And dance, but I can't lift up

     My eyes from the shadows: dark

     They lie spilt round the cup.

 

     What is it?—Hark

     The faint fine seethe⁴ in the air!

 

     Like the seething⁵ sound in a shell!

     It is death still seething where

     The wild-flower shakes its bell

     And the sky lark⁶ twinkles blue—

 

     The pain of loving you

     Is almost more than I can bear.

 

1 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

2 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

3 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

4 seethe   

vi.拥挤，云集；发怒，激动，骚动

参考例句：

• Many Indians continue to seethe and some are calling for military action against their riotous neighbour.很多印度人都处于热血沸腾的状态，很多都呼吁针对印度这个恶邻采取军事行动。
• She seethed with indignation.她由于愤怒而不能平静。

5 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。

6 lark   

n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏

参考例句：

• He thinks it cruel to confine a lark in a cage.他认为把云雀关在笼子里太残忍了。
• She lived in the village with her grandparents as cheerful as a lark.她同祖父母一起住在乡间非常快活。