The Shadow on the Stone
I went by the Druid stone
That broods in the garden white and lone,
And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows
That at some moments fall thereon
From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,
And they shaped in my imagining
To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders
Threw there when she was gardening.
I thought her behind my back,
Yea, her I long had learned to lack,
And I said: "I am sure you are standing behind me,
Though how do you get into this old track?"
And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf
As a sad response; and to keep down my grief
I would not turn my head to discover
That there was nothing in my belief.
Yet I wanted to look and see
That nobody stood at the back of me;
But I thought once more: "Nay, I'll not unvision
A shape which, somehow, there may be."
So I went on softly from the glade,
And left her behind me throwing her shade,
As she were indeed an apparition-
My head unturned lest my dream should fade.
踪影
我漫步经过一块石碑
它晶莹而又孤零零立在花园中，
我停步注视着
碑上移动的树影，
树枝在有节奏的摆动。
在我的想象里，
影子化作我熟悉的头和双肩，
是她在园中操作的身影。
我想准是她站在我的背后，
我久已失去她的音容。
我说：“我知道你在我背后，
可你怎么到这常来的旧径？”
寂然无语，只有凄凉的落叶声。
我抑制住我的悲哀，
我不愿回过头去，
怕看不到一个人影。
可是我又想看个分明，
看背后有否人踪。
但我又想：“可不能使这一形象消失，
她就在我身后也很可能。”
我悄悄离开花园，
留下她的身影在我背后，
她好象真是一个幻影，
我头也不回，怕我的梦消失无踪。
托马斯·哈代（Thomas Hardy,1840-1928）生于英格兰多尔切斯特的一个小村子里。父亲是位建筑师。早年，托马斯·哈代从事建筑事务，但是他最爱写诗，他由于写诗难得有出版机会，随转向写小说，后以写小说而成名。1896年，他发表了他的最后一部小说《无名的裘德》（Jude the Obscure），以后即转向写诗，整个晚年他都用来写诗。
早年，他浪迹于森林田野和草原上，听到不少民谣和民间故事，多为荒凉的路口和坟园故事，逐渐形成一种悲观失望的人生观，认为人就是孤立无援与上帝奋斗。但在他的作品中，我们看到哈代对受苦的人民充满同情。
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