本杰明•琼森

在这里你会发现长诗《品达尔颂诗人本杰明·约翰逊

《品达尔颂

勇敢的萨贡顿的孩子,你在那伟大的一年里出现了,当惊人的汉尼拔把你不朽的城镇夷为平地,以发泄他的愤怒。聪明的孩子,你看了看四周,还没走到一半,就急急忙忙地回来了,把你母亲的子宫弄疯了,成了你的骨灰盒。你给人类留下了一个多么圆满的圆,我们怎能找到它的中心呢!聪明的大自然把你从那可怕的麻袋里拉了回来;在那里,羞耻、信仰、荣誉和对正义的尊重都被践踏?死亡和黑夜的恶果,急匆匆地扑向这个惊魂未定的世界。刀剑、烈火、饥荒与狂怒相遇,一切都将毁灭到极点:除了人生的苦难,他们都能预见,毫无疑问,所有的婴儿都会像你一样死去。如果以时间而不是以行为来衡量生命,那生命是什么?或是一个戴面具的人,如果只看他的脸,而不顾他的事实?有一个人比他的同辈人活得长,说了八十岁:他浪费时间,使整个国家忙碌; Troubled both foes and friends; But ever to no ends: What did this stirrer but die late? How well at twenty had he fall'n or stood! For three of his four score he did no good. THE TURN He enter'd well, by virtuous parts Got up, and thriv'd with honest arts; He purchas'd friends, and fame, and honours then, And had his noble name advanc'd with men; But weary of that flight, He stoop'd in all men's sight To sordid flatteries, acts of strife, And sunk in that dead sea of life, So deep, as he did then death's waters sup, But that the cork of title buoy'd him up. THE COUNTER-TURN Alas, but Morison fell young! He never fell,--thou fall'st, my tongue. He stood, a soldier to the last right end, A perfect patriot and a noble friend; But most, a virtuous son. All offices were done By him, so ample, full, and round, In weight, in measure, number, sound, As, though his age imperfect might appear, His life was of humanity the sphere. THE STAND Go now, and tell out days summ'd up with fears, And make them years; Produce thy mass of miseries on the stage, To swell thine age; Repeat of things a throng, To show thou hast been long, Not liv'd; for life doth her great actions spell, By what was done and wrought In season, and so brought To light: her measures are, how well Each syllabe answer'd, and was form'd, how fair; These make the lines of life, and that's her air. THE TURN It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make men better be; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear: A lily of a day Is fairer far, in May, Although it fall and die that night, It was the plant and flower of light. In small proportions we just beauties see; And in short measures life may perfect be. THE COUNTER-TURN Call, noble Lucius, then, for wine, And let thy looks with gladness shine; Accept this garland, plant it on thy head, And think, nay know, thy Morison's not dead. He leap'd the present age, Possest with holy rage, To see that bright eternal day; Of which we priests and poets say Such truths as we expect for happy men; And there he lives with memory, and Ben THE STAND Jonson, who sung this of him, ere he went Himself, to rest, Or taste a part of that full joy he meant To have exprest, In this bright asterism, Where it were friendship's schism, Were not his Lucius long with us to tarry, To separate these twi{-} Lights, the Dioscuri, And keep the one half from his Harry. But fate doth so alternate the design, Whilst that in heav'n, this light on earth must shine. THE TURN And shine as you exalted are; Two names of friendship, but one star: Of hearts the union, and those not by chance Made, or indenture, or leas'd out t' advance The profits for a time. No pleasures vain did chime, Of rhymes, or riots, at your feasts, Orgies of drink, or feign'd protests; But simple love of greatness and of good, That knits brave minds and manners more than blood. THE COUNTER-TURN This made you first to know the why You lik'd, then after, to apply That liking; and approach so one the t'other Till either grew a portion of the other; Each styled by his end, The copy of his friend. You liv'd to be the great surnames And titles by which all made claims Unto the virtue: nothing perfect done, But as a Cary or a Morison. THE STAND And such a force the fair example had, As they that saw The good and durst not practise it, were glad That s