The Sun Rising

Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus,

Through windows and through curtains call on us?

Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?

Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide

Late schoolboys and sour prentices,

Go tell court huntsmen that the King will ride;

Call country ants to harvest offices:

Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

Thy beams, so reverend and strong

Why shoulder thou think?

I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,

But that I would not lose her sight so long;

If her eyes have not blinded thine,

Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,

Whether both th’ Indias of spice and mine

Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.

Ask for those kings whom thou saw’st yesterday,

And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.

She is all states, and all princes I,

Nothing else is.

Princes do but play us; compared to this,

All honor’s mimic, all wealth alchemy.

Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,

In that the world’s contracted thus;

Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be

To warm the world, that’s done in warming us.

Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;

This bed thy center is,these walls thy sphere.

《日出》  

多事的老傻瓜，任性的太阳，  

为何偏要透过窗棂，  

穿过帘幕来唤我们起床？  

难道情人的季节也得随你转向？  

鲁莽迂腐的东西，去训斥  

迟到的学童和愠怒的学徒，  

通知宫廷猎手国王要出猎，  

催乡下的蚂蚁完成收割任务；  

爱情啊，不识气候与疆界，  

更不知钟点、日月、年岁——这些时间的碎布。  

你的光芒威严炽烈，  

可曾想过：我只需一瞬闭目，  

就能让你黯然失色，  

但我不愿失去她的目光哪怕片刻；  

若她的眼眸还未灼瞎你，  

就看看——明天日落时告诉我，  

盛产香料与金银的东西印度  

是否还在你离开的地方，或已躺在此处与我同卧。  

再问问你昨天见过的帝王，  

会听见答：全都在这一张床上。  

她是万国，我便是群王，  

其余皆虚妄。  

帝王不过扮演我们；相较于此，  

一切荣耀是模仿，所有财富是炼金术的谎。  

太阳啊，你只有我们一半欢畅，  

因这世界已缩成这般模样；  

你年迈需安逸，既然职责  

是温暖世界——温暖我们就算尽责。  

照耀此处，你便普照万方；  

这床是你的圆心，四壁是你的穹苍。  

（翻译说明：  

1. 保留原诗"busy old fool"的拟人化嗔怪语气，译为"多事的老傻瓜"；  

2. "rags of time"意象化为"时间的碎布"，既保留隐喻又符合中文表达；  

3. 双关语"th' Indias of spice and mine"处理为"香料与金银的东西印度"，通过注释说明"mine"既指矿藏又谐音"我的"；  

4. "She is all states"段采用排比句式强化宣言气势；  

5. 结尾天文学隐喻"center/sphere"译为"圆心/穹苍"，既保持科学意象又具诗意美感；  

6. 全诗采用不严格押韵的自由诗体，重点再现原作的戏剧性对话感和激情澎湃的节奏。）

Notes:

(1) Go. ... offices; King James was addicted to hunting, "harvest offices"; autumn chores. The "country ants" may imply an allusion to the old fable of the ant and the grasshopper.

(2) both ... mine: The India of "spice" is East India, that of "mine" (gold) the West India.

(3) states: all the nations of the world.

(4) alchemy: i.e. fraudulent.

(5) This ... is: As the earth was the center of the sun's orbit (according to the old Ptolemaic astronomy), so the bed will be the new center of the sun's activities, and the walls of the bedroom will outline its motion.