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第21节

lucile-第21节

小说: lucile 字数: 每页4000字

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a gush From the sunrise in summer。                             Love; roaming; shall meet But rarely a nature more sound or more sweet Eyes brighterbrows whitera figure more fair Or lovelier lengths of more radiant hair Than thine; Lady Alfred!  And here I aver (May those that have seen thee declare if I err) That not all the oysters in Britain contain A pearl pure as thou art。                           Let some one explain; Who may know more than I of the intimate life Of the pearl with the oyster;why yet in his wife; In despite of her beautyand most when he felt His soul to the sense of her loveliness melt Lord Alfred miss'd something he sought for: indeed; The more that he miss'd it the greater the need; Till it seem'd to himself he could willingly spare All the charms that he found for the one charm not there。


IV。


For the blessings Life lends us; it strictly demands The worth of their full usufruct at our hands。 And the value of all things exists; not indeed In themselves; but man's use of them; feeding man's need。 Alfred Vargrave; in wedding with beauty and youth; Had embraced both Ambition and Wealth。  Yet in truth Unfulfill'd the ambition; and sterile the wealth (In a life paralyzed by a moral ill…health); Had remain'd; while the beauty and youth; unredeem'd From a vague disappointment at all things; but seem'd Day by day to reproach him in silence for all That lost youth in himself they had fail'd to recall。 No career had he follow'd; no object obtain'd In the world by those worldly advantages gain'd From nuptials beyond which once seem'd to appear; Lit by love; the broad path of a brilliant career。 All that glitter'd and gleam'd through the moonlight of youth With a glory so fair; now that manhood in truth Grasp'd and gather'd it; seem'd like that false fairy gold Which leaves in the hand only moss; leaves; and mould!


V。


Fairy gold! moss and leaves! and the young Fairy Bride? Lived there yet fairy…lands in the face at his side? Say; O friend; if at evening thou ever hast watch'd Some pale and impalpable vapor; detach'd From the dim and disconsolate earth; rise and fall O'er the light of a sweet serene star; until all The chill'd splendor reluctantly waned in the deep Of its own native heaven?  Even so seem'd to creep O'er that fair and ethereal face; day by day; While the radiant vermeil; subsiding away; Hid its light in the heart; the faint gradual veil Of a sadness unconscious。                            The lady grew pale As silent her lord grew: and both; as they eyed Each the other askance; turn'd; and secretly sigh'd。 Ah; wise friend; what avails all experience can give? True; we know what life isbut; alas! do we live? The grammar of life we have gotten by heart; But life's self we have made a dead languagean art; Not a voice。  Could we speak it; but once; as 'twas spoken When the silence of passion the first time was broken! Cuvier knew the world better than Adam; no doubt; But the last man; at best; was but learned about What the first; without learning; ENJOYED。  What art thou To the man of to…day; O Leviathan; now? A science。  What wert thou to him that from ocean First beheld thee appear?  A surprise;an emotion! When life leaps in the veins; when it beats in the heart; When it thrills as it fills every animate part; Where lurks it? how works it? 。 。 。 We scarcely detect it。 But life goes: the heart dies: haste; O leech; and dissect it! This accursed aesthetical; ethical age Hath so finger'd life's hornbook; so blurr'd every page; That the old glad romance; the gay chivalrous story With its fables of faery; its legends of glory; Is turn'd to a tedious instruction; not new To the children that read it insipidly through。 We know too much of Love ere we love。  We can trace Nothing new; unexpected; or strange in his face When we see it at last。  'Tis the same little Cupid; With the same dimpled cheek; and the smile almost stupid; We have seen in our pictures; and stuck on our shelves; And copied a hundred times over; ourselves; And wherever we turn; and whatever we do; Still; that horrible sense of the deja connu!


VI。


Perchance 'twas the fault of the life that they led; Perchance 'twas the fault of the novels they read; Perchance 'twas a fault in themselves; I am bound not To say: this I knowthat these two creatures found not In each other some sign they expected to find Of a something unnamed in the heart or the mind; And; missing it; each felt a right to complain Of a sadness which each found no word to explain。 Whatever it was; the world noticed not it In the light…hearted beauty; the light…hearted wit。 Still; as once with the actors in Greece; 'tis the case; Each must speak to the crowd with a mask on his face。 Praise follow'd Matilda wherever she went; She was flatter'd。  Can flattery purchase content? Yes。  While to its voice for a moment she listen'd; The young cheek still bloom'd and the soft eyes still glisten'd; And her lord; when; like one of those light vivid things That glide down the gauzes of summer with wings Of rapturous radiance; unconscious she moved Through that buzz of inferior creatures; which proved Her beauty; their envy; one moment forgot; 'Mid the many charms there; the one charm that was not: And when o'er her beauty enraptured he bow'd; (As they turn'd to each other; each flush'd from the crowd;) And murmur'd those praises which yet seem'd more dear Than the praises of others had grown to her ear; She; too; ceased awhile her own fate to regret: 〃Yes! 。 。 。 he loves me;〃 she sigh'd; 〃this is love; thenand YET!〃


VII。


Ah; that YET! fatal word! 'tis the moral of all Thought and felt; seen or done; in this world since the Fall! It stands at the end of each sentence we learn; It flits in the vista of all we discern; It leads us; forever and ever; away To find in to…morrow what flies with to…day。 'Twas the same little fatal and mystical word That now; like a mirage; led my lady and lord To the waters of Ems from the waters of Marah; Drooping Pilgrims in Fashion's blank; arid Sahara!


VIII。


At the same time; pursued by a spell much the same; To these waters two other worn pilgrims there came: One a man; one a woman: just now; at the latter; As the Reader I mean by and by to look at her And judge for himself; I will not even glance。


IX。


Of the self…crown'd young kings of the Fashion in France Whose resplendent regalia so dazzled the sight; Whose horse was so perfect; whose boots were so bright; Who so hail'd in the salon; so mark'd in the Bois; Who so welcomed by all; as Eugene de Luvois? Of all the smooth…brow'd premature debauchees In that town of all towns; where Debauchery sees On the forehead of youth her mark everywhere graven; In Paris I mean;where the streets are all paven By those two fiends whom Milton saw bridging the way From Hell to this planet;who; haughty and gay; The free rebel of life; bound or led by no law; Walk'd that causeway as bold as Eugene de Luvois? Yes! he march'd through the great masquerade; loud of tongue; Bold of brow: but the motley he mask'd in; it hung So loose; trail'd so wide; and appear'd to impede So strangely at times the vex'd effort at speed; That a keen eye might guess it was madenot for him; But some brawler more stalwart of stature and limb。 That it irk'd him; in truth; you at times could divine; For when low was the music; and spilt was the wine; He would clutch at the garment; as though it oppress'd And stifled some impulse that choked in his breast。


X。


What! he; 。 。 。 the light sport of his frivolous ease! Was he; too; a prey to a mortal disease? My friend; hear a parable: ponder it well: For a moral there is in the tale that I tell。 One evening I sat in the Palais Royal; And there; while I laugh'd at Grassot and Arnal; My eye fell on the face of a man at my side; Every time that he laugh'd I observed that he sigh'd; As though vex'd to be pleased。  I remark'd that he sat Ill at ease on his seat; and kept twirling his hat In his hand; with a look of unquiet abstraction。 I inquired the cause of his dissatisfaction。 〃Sir;〃 he said; 〃if what vexes me here you would know; Learn that; passing this way some few half…hours ago; I walk'd into the Francais; to look at Rachel。 (Sir; that woman in Phedre is a miracle!)Well; I ask'd for a box: they were occupied all: For a seat in the balcony: all taken! a stall: Taken too: the whole house was as full as could be; Not a hole for a rat!  I had just time to see The lady I love tete…a…tete with a friend In a box out of reach at the opposite end: Then the crowd push'd me out。  What was left me to do? I tried for the tragedy 。 。 。 que voulez…vous? Every place for the tragedy book'd! 。 。 。 mon ami。 The farce was close by: 。 。 。 at the farce me voici。 The piece is a new one: and Grassot plays well: There is drollery; too; in that fellow Ravel: And Hyacinth's nose is superb: 。 。 。 yet I meant My evening elsewhere; and not thus to have spent。 Fate orders these things by her will; not by ours! Sir; mankind is the sport of invisible powers。〃

I once met the Duc de Luvois for a moment; And I mark'd; when his features I fix'd in my comment; O'er those features the same vague disquietude stray I had seen on the face of my friend at the play; And I thought that he too

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