The Spirit Wooed
by Philip Larkin
Once I believed in you,
And then you came,
Unquestionably new, as fame
Had said you were. But that was long ago.
You launched no argument,
Yet I obeyed,
Straightaway, the instrument you played
Distant Down sidestreets, keeping different time,
And never questioned what
You fascinate
In me; if good or not, the state
You pressed towards. There was no need to know.
Grave pristine absolutes
Walked in my mind:
So that I was not mute, or blind,
As years before or since. My only crime
Was holding you too dear.
Was that the cause
You daily came less near—a pause
Longer than life, if you decide it so?
所追求的灵魂
菲利普·拉金（著）
从前 我信了你
你便来临
毋庸置疑
如传闻中一般的新
——即便 那是很久前的事了
你不曾表明什么
而我却一味遵循
你的心弦 毫不修饰 弹奏了
一曲可以在任何街头巷尾、
任何时间传唱的乐音
不曾怀疑是什么
令我为你 着迷
好也罢 不好也罢
（只要是）你给的 我无需辨明
庄严而浑然天成的绝对
行走在我的脑海
使我不致于沉默不语
也不盲目
迩来以及往后 我唯一的罪
——就是将你抓得太紧
是否这
就是你渐行渐远的原因
只一回停留
（是否你决意如此）就长过一生？