Sonnet 75

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,

But came the waves and washed it away：

Agayne I wrote it with a second hand,

But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.

“Vayne man," sayd she, "that does in vayne assay,

A mortall thing so to immortalize,

For I my selve shall lyke to this decay,

And eek my name be wyped out lykewize.

Not so," quod I, "let baser things devize,

To dy in dust, but you shall live by fame:

My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,

And in the heavens wryte your glorious name.

Where whenas death shall all the world subdew,

Our love shall live, and later life renew.”

 

有一天，我把她的名字写在沙滩上，

大浪冲来，把那个名字洗去；

我把她的名字再一次写上，

潮水来了，又将我的辛苦一口吞掉。

“自负的人，”她说，“你这只是徒劳，

妄想使世间凡俗之事不朽；

他日我也会像这样烟消云散，

我的名字也将会化为乌有。

“不，”我说，“卑劣者费尽计谋”

而仍归于一死，你却会声名永留：

我的诗笔将使你的美德长留，

并把你光辉的名字写在天国。

死亡可以征服整个世界，

我们的爱将长存，使生命永不枯朽。