At last you yielded up the album, which

一翻开你终于交出来的照相簿，

Once open, sent me distracted. All your ages

我就给弄糊涂了。厚厚的黑纸上，

Matt and glossy on the thick black pages!

是你各种年华粗糙和光洁的像！

Too much confectionery, too rich:

太多的糖果蜜钱，但太丰富——

I choke on such nutritious images.

这样有营养的形象咽得我喉咙呛。

My swivel eye hungers from pose to pose —

我饥饿的服从这神态转到那姿势——

In pigtails, clutching a reluctant cat;

梳小辫子的，抓着不情愿的猫的；

Or furred yourself, a sweet girl-graduate;

穿毛皮衣裳的，可爱的姑娘毕业了；

Or lifting a heavy-headed rose

要不，在棚架下举起一支

Beneath a trellis, or in a trilby-hat

花朵儿硕大的玫瑰．再就是戴着

(Faintly disturbing, that, in several ways) —

软毡帽(在几方面这使人有点难平静)

From every side you strike at my control,

你从各个角度对我的自我控制冲击；

Not least through those these disquieting chaps who loll

而这些小伙子在你早先的日子里

At ease about your earlier days:

悠悠闲混，也颇叫我心神不宁。

Not quite your class, I'd say, dear, on the whole.

我说亲爱的，他们中大多够不上你。

But o, photography! as no art is,

它同晾衣绳和豪尔胶面板两样，

Faithful and disappointing! that records

一些美中不足的瑕疵它没法子掩饰，

Dull days as dull, and hold-it smiles as frauds,

And will not censor blemishes

却显出那只猫儿心不甘、情不愿，

Like washing-lines, and Hall's-Distemper boards,

还分明地录下事实如此的双下巴，

你的率直就这样给那脸大添优雅！

But shows a cat as disinclined, and shades

这无可辩驳地说明了一点：

A chin as doubled when it is, what grace

是在真的地方把这位真姑娘摄下，

Your candour thus confers upon her face!

How overwhelmingly persuades

在每种意义上，经验证明这是真的！

That this is a real girl in a real place,

要不，这只是过去？那些花、那扇门、

那些雾萦蒙的停车场和汽车、只因

In every sense empirically true!

曝光过度变得很不像样了——

Or is it just the past? Those flowers, that gate,

你过时的形象紧紧地捏着我的心。

These misty parks and motors, lacerate

Simply by being you; you

对呀，但说到底，我们决不是仅仅

Contract my heart by looking out of date.

为给排除在外而悲伤，是因为我们

由此可自由地哭泣。我们知道单凭

Yes, true; but in the end, surely, we cry

过去并不能使我们的伤心

Not only at exclusion, but because

显得有理，也不管我们隔着眼睛

It leaves us free to cry. We know what was

Won't call on us to justify

和相片间的鸿沟狂喊。所以我只

Our grief, however hard we yowl across

落得不可能有结果地为你哀伤——

你倚着栅栏，平衡在一辆自行车上，

The gap from eye to page. So I am left

只落得奇怪，你可会发现这

To mourn (without a chance of consequence)

偷摄你游泳时的镜头。总之，把以往

You, balanced on a bike against a fence;

To wonder if you'd spot the theft

浓缩，而这以往如今没人能分享，

Of this one of you bathing; to condense,

不管你的未来属于谁；这相册对你

就好像天堂一样，既没风又没雨，

In short, a past that no one now can share,

可爱的你在这里将永不走样，

No matter whose your future; calm and dry,

将随岁月的流逝变得更小、更明晰。

It holds you like a heaven, and you lie

Unvariably lovely there,

Smaller and clearer as the years go by.