偶然

但求有個復仇之神從天上喊我，

并且大笑著說：“受苦受難的東西！

要明白：你的痛苦就是我的娛樂，

你的愛之虧損就是我的恨之贏利！”

那時啊，我將默然忍受，堅持至死，

在不公正的神譴之下心如鐵石；

同時又因我所流的全部眼淚

均由比我更強者判決，而稍感寬慰。

可惜，并無此事。為什么歡樂遭殺戮，

為什么播下的美好希望從未實現(xiàn)？

——是純粹的偶然遮住了陽光雨露，

擲骰子的時運不擲歡欣卻擲出悲嘆……

這些盲目的裁判本來能在我的旅途

播撒幸福，并不比播撒痛苦更難。

1866年

A Confession to a Friend in Trouble

Your troubles shrink not, though I feel them less

Here, far away, than when I tarried near;

I even smile old smiles — with listlessness —

Yet smiles they are, not ghastly mockeries mere.

A thought too strange to house within my brain

Haunting its outer precincts I discern:

— That I will not show zeal again to learn

Your griefs,and, sharing them, renew my pain…

It goes, like murky bird or buccaneer

That shapes its lawless figure on the main,

And staunchness tends to banish utterly

The unseemly instinct that had lodgment here;

Yet, comrade old, can bitterer knowledge be

Than that, though banned, such instinct was in me!

1866