《致達特茅斯伯爵尊敬的威廉閣下》

- 菲利斯·惠特利

【Title : To The Right Honorable William Earl Of Dartouth】

- Phillis Wheatley Peters

「美國/1753~1784」

歡呼吧，快樂的日子，當像黎明一般微笑的

美麗自由升起來裝飾新英格蘭的時候

在她和煦光芒下的北方氣象

達特茅斯，祝賀你幸福的統(tǒng)治

她因希望而欣喜的種族不再悲傷

每個靈魂都在膨脹，每個胸膛都在燃

在你手中我們高興地看到

絲綢的韁繩，自由散發(fā)著魅力

北方天空下的疆土久違的是

她閃耀著至高無上的光芒

而仇恨的派別消亡

渴望已久的女神一出現(xiàn)

對所見沮喪，她憔悴地離開

因此在晨曦的燦爛中

悲傷的貓頭鷹尋找夜晚的洞穴

美國不再悲傷地承受

冤屈和未了的怨憤

你不再懼怕那鐵鏈

蠻橫的暴政用無法無天的手

打造鐵鏈，并打算用它來奴役這片土地

我的主,當你仔細欣賞我的歌聲

是否想知曉，我對自由的熱愛從何而來

為眾人謀福的愿望從何而來

最知我心者，莫如感同身受

我，年輕的生命，遭遇殘酷的命運

從非洲福地被擄走

強加痛苦萬分

父母心中悲痛幾何

我心硬如鐵，悲慘境遇也無動于衷

父親心愛的孩子被擄走

這，就是我的遭遇。我只能祈禱

他人永不會感受暴虐之錘

偉大的伯爵，我們感謝你賜下的恩惠

我們請求你賜下新的恩惠

因為你有權(quán)柄，有心意

撫慰眾人的悲痛

如你曾經(jīng)為之哀傷

愿上天賜下神圣的授權(quán)

賦予你手上所有的功，并祝福你永遠長存

不只是短暫的留名

雖然不朽的贊譽為愛國者戴上冠冕之名

還要登上天堂熠熠閃光的殿堂

愿駿馬烈火般一掃天堂之路

帶你上升到那祝福的居所

如同那位先知，你會遇到你的上帝

————————————————

原文

《To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth》

By Phillis Wheatley

Hail, happy day, when, smiling like the morn,

Fair Freedom rose New-England to adorn:

The northern clime beneath her genial ray,

Dartmouth, congratulates thy blissful sway:

Elate with hope her race no longer mourns,

Each soul expands, each grateful bosom burns,

While in thine hand with pleasure we behold

The silken reins, and Freedom’s charms unfold.

Long lost to realms beneath the northern skies

She shines supreme, while hated faction dies:

Soon as appear’d the Goddess long desir’d,

Sick at the view, she languish’d and expir’d;

Thus from the splendors of the morning light

The owl in sadness seeks the caves of?night.

No more,?America, in mournful strain

Of wrongs, and grievance unredress’d complain,

No longer shalt thou dread the iron chain,

Which wanton Tyranny with lawless hand

Had made, and with it meant t’ enslave the land.

Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song,

Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung,

Whence flow these wishes for the common good,

By feeling hearts?alone?best understood,

I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate

Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat:

What pangs excruciating must molest,

What sorrows labour in my parent’s breast?

Steel’d was that soul and by no misery mov’d

That from a father seiz’d his babe belov’d:

Such, such my case. And can I then but pray

Others may never feel tyrannic sway?

For favours past, great Sir, our thanks are due,

And thee we?ask?thy favours to renew,

Since in thy pow’r, as in thy will before,

To sooth the griefs, which thou did’st once deplore.

May heav’nly grace?the sacred?sanction give

To all thy works, and thou for ever live

Not only on the wings of fleeting Fame,

Though praise immortal crowns?the patriot’s name,

But to conduct to heav’ns refulgent fane,

May fiery coursers sweep th’ ethereal plain,

And bear thee upwards to that blest abode,

Where, like the prophet, thou shalt find thy God.