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优美诗歌阅读:Pickthorn Manor

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优美诗歌阅读:Pickthorn Manor

  下面是学习啦小编为大家带来艾米·洛威尔的经典诗歌:Pickthorn Manor,希望大家喜欢!

  I

  How fresh the Dartle's little waves that day! A

  steely silver, underlined with blue,

  And flashing where the round clouds, blown away, Letdrop the

  yellow sunshine to gleam through

  And tip the edges of the waves with shifts And spots ofwhitest

  fire, hard like gems

  Cut from the midnight moon they were, and sharp As

  wind through leafless stems.

  The Lady Eunice walked between the drifts

  Of blooming cherry-trees, and watched the rifts

  Of clouds drawn through the river's azure warp.

  II

  Her little feet tapped softly down the path. Her

  soul was listless; even the morning breeze

  Fluttering the trees and strewing a light swath Of fallen petals

  on the grass, could please

  Her not at all. She brushed a hair aside With a

  swift move, and a half-angry frown.

  She stopped to pull a daffodil or two, And

  held them to her gown

  To test the colours; put them at her side,

  Then at her breast, then loosened them and tried

  Some new arrangement, but it would not do.

  III

  A lady in a Manor-house, alone, Whose husband

  is in Flanders with the Duke

  Of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, she's grown Too apathetic

  even to rebuke

  Her idleness. What is she on this Earth? No woman

  surely, since she neither can

  Be wed nor single, must not let her mind Build

  thoughts upon a man

  Except for hers. Indeed that were no dearth

  Were her Lord here, for well she knew his worth,

  And when she thought of him her eyes were kind.

  IV

  Too lately wed to have forgot the wooing. Too

  unaccustomed as a bride to feel

  Other than strange delight at her wife's doing. Even at the

  thought a gentle blush would steal

  Over her face, and then her lips would frame Some little word

  of loving, and her eyes

  Would brim and spill their tears, when all they

  saw Was the bright sun, slantwise

  Through burgeoning trees, and all the morning's flame

  Burning and quivering round her. With quick shame

  She shut her heart and bent before the law.

  V

  He was a soldier, she was proud of that. This

  was his house and she would keep it well.

  His honour was in fighting, hers in what He'd left her here

  in charge of. Then a spell

  Of conscience sent her through the orchard spying Upon the

  gardeners. Were their tools about?

  Were any branches broken? Had the

  weeds Been duly taken out

  Under the 'spaliered pears, and were these lying

  Nailed snug against the sunny bricks and drying

  Their leaves and satisfying all their needs?

  VI

  She picked a stone up with a little pout, Stones

  looked so ill in well-kept flower-borders.

  Where should she put it? All the paths about Were

  strewn with fair, red gravel by her orders.

  No stone could mar their sifted smoothness. So She

  hurried to the river. At the edge

  She stood a moment charmed by the swift blue Beyond

  the river sedge.

  She watched it curdling, crinkling, and the snow

  Purfled upon its wave-tops. Then, "Hullo,

  My Beauty, gently, or you'll wriggle through."

  VII

  The Lady Eunice caught a willow spray To save

  herself from tumbling in the shallows

  Which rippled to her feet. Then straight away She

  peered down stream among the budding sallows.

  A youth in leather breeches and a shirt Of finest broidered

  lawn lay out upon

  An overhanging bole and deftly swayed A

  well-hooked fish which shone

  In the pale lemon sunshine like a spurt

  Of silver, bowed and damascened, and girt

  With crimson spots and moons which waned and

  played.

  VIII

  The fish hung circled for a moment, ringed And

  bright; then flung itself out, a thin blade

  Of spotted lightning, and its tail was winged With chipped

  and sparkled sunshine. And the shade

  Broke up and splintered into shafts of light Wheeling about

  the fish, who churned the air

  And made the fish-line hum, and bent the rod Almost

  to snapping. Care

  The young man took against the twigs, with slight,

  Deft movements he kept fish and line in tight

  Obedience to his will with every prod.

  IX

  He lay there, and the fish hung just beyond. He

  seemed uncertain what more he should do.

  He drew back, pulled the rod to correspond, Tossed it and caught

  it; every time he threw,

  He caught it nearer to the point. At last The fish

  was near enough to touch. He paused.

  Eunice knew well the craft -- "What's

  got the thing!" She cried. "What can have caused

  --

  Where is his net? The moment will be past.

  The fish will wriggle free." She stopped aghast.

  He turned and bowed. One arm was in

  a sling.

  X

  The broad, black ribbon she had thought his basket Must

  hang from, held instead a useless arm.

  "I do not wonder, Madam, that you ask it." He smiled, for she

  had spoke aloud. "The charm

  Of trout fishing is in my eyes enhanced When you must play

  your fish on land as well."

  "How will you take him?" Eunice asked. "In

  truth I really cannot tell.

  'Twas stupid of me, but it simply chanced

  I never thought of that until he glanced

  Into the branches. 'Tis a bit uncouth."

  XI

  He watched the fish against the blowing sky, Writhing

  and glittering, pulling at the line.

  "The hook is fast, I might just let him die," He mused. "But

  that would jar against your fine

  Sense of true sportsmanship, I know it would," Cried Eunice. "Let

  me do it." Swift and light

  She ran towards him. "It is so long

  now Since I have felt a bite,

  I lost all heart for everything." She stood,

  Supple and strong, beside him, and her blood

  Tingled her lissom body to a glow.

  XII

  She quickly seized the fish and with a stone Ended

  its flurry, then removed the hook,

  Untied the fly with well-poised fingers. Done, She

  asked him where he kept his fishing-book.

  He pointed to a coat flung on the ground. She searched the

  pockets, found a shagreen case,

  Replaced the fly, noticed a golden stamp Filling

  the middle space.

  Two letters half rubbed out were there, and round

  About them gay rococo flowers wound

  And tossed a spray of roses to the clamp.

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