希望（Hope）

作者：［英国］艾米莉·勃朗特（Emily Jane Bronte，1818—1848）

希望只是个羞怯的朋友；

她坐在我那牢笼外头，

看我的命运向何处走，

像事不关己的人旁观袖手。

她恐惧起来尤其残酷；

阴郁的一天我透过铁条

向外望去，见她就在近处，

可她倒好，竟别过脸去不把我瞧！

像个冒牌的狱卒，装作把我看得紧紧，

还在争吵，就开始示意和平；

我在哭泣，她却唱个不停；

我若倾听，她又会骤然安静。

她是如此虚伪，如此无情；

当我最后的欢愉散落在地，

可怜的碎片零零星星，

连悲伤见了都唉声叹气；

可希望呢，原本她只需轻声关切

便能安抚我狂烈的剧痛，

但她却振翅高飞，直上天阙，

离我而去，再无影踪！

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Hope was but a timid friend;

She sat without the grated den,

Watching how my fate would tend,

Even as selfish-hearted men.

She was cruel in her fear;

Through the bars, one dreary day,

I looked out to see her there,

And she turned her face away!

Like a false guard, false watch keeping,

Still in strife, she whispered peace;

She would sing while I was weeping;

If I listened, she would cease.

False she was, and unrelenting;

When my last joys strewed the ground,

Even Sorrow saw, repenting,

Those sad relics scattered round;

Hope, whose whisper would have given

Balm to all my frenzied pain,

Streched her wings, and soared to heaven,

Went, and ne'er returned again!