All seasons and their change, all please alike.
from Paradise Lost (Eve is speaking to Adam here) by John Milton (1608-1674)
"与亚当说话,能让夏娃忘记工夫、季节轮转与变化",或许,撇开诗人的视角,在常人眼中,人人间最纯朴的爱情表白就是这句了。弥尔顿的《失乐园》是英国文学史上最伟大的一部史诗,常运用大量典故和比喻。多亏描述爱情的这句简洁明了,否则我们还要望洋兴叹呢。
-- O, my Luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly played in tune.
from A Red, Red Rose 不要by Robert Burns (1759-1796)
在爱情诗句里,彭斯的这首《一朵红红的玫瑰》总能赢得一席之位,虽然它没有华丽的词藻也缺乏绮丽意象。在诗人眼中,"爱人就是六月初绽的玫瑰,火红斗妍;又是一支奏起的曲子,幸福悠扬"。
-- Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle:-
Why not I with thine?
from Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
在雪莱这首《爱的哲学》里,诗人站在哲人的角度给恋人说理,向其张开求爱攻势。"由于崇高的自然法规,人间万物从不孤零零存在,他们都必然容于一体,为什么你我却要例外?"
-- How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach . . .
from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
"我是怎样的爱你,请让我细数端详。我爱你爱到心灵深处,之深之广只有灵魂才能触摸",其排比一泻千里,似有不可遏制之势。布朗宁在《葡萄牙十四行诗》中的炽烈情感、直露表白,总能让人联想到《上邪》中那个对爱无所顾忌的女子:"上邪!我欲与君相知,长命无绝衰!山无棱,江水为竭,冬雷震震,夏雨雪,天地合;乃敢与君绝!" 言语夸张却无造作之嫌,感情细腻却又大气磅礴。或许,只有女子才敢留下这种大手笔,也只有女子写下的这种绝世之爱才能被世人接受和理解。
-- Ah love is bitter and sweet,
but which is more sweet
the bitterness or the sweetness,