Ode to Psyche

O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers1, wrung
　By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung
　Even unto thine own soft-conched ear2:
Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see3
　The winged Psyche with awaken'd eyes?
I wander'd in a forest thoughtlessly4,
　And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,
Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side
　In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof 5
　Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran
　　　A brooklet, scarce espied6:
'Mid hush'd cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,
　Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian7,
They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass;
　Their arms embraced, and their pinions8 too;
　Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu,
As if disjoined by soft-handed slumber,
And ready still past kisses to outnumber
　At tender eye-dawn of aurorean9 love:
　　?The winged boy10 I knew;
But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove11?
　　　His Psyche true!

O latest born and loveliest vision far
　Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!
Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star12,
　Or Vesper13, amorous glow-worm of the sky;
Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,
　　Nor altar heap'd with flowers;
Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan
　　Upon the midnight hours;
No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet
　From chain-swung censer14 teeming;
No shrine, no globe, no oracle, no heat
　Of pale-mouthed prophet15 dreaming.

O brightest! though too late for antique vows,
　Too, too late for the fond believing lyte16,
When holy were the haunted forest boughs,
　Holy the air, the water, and the fire;
Yet even in these days so far retir'd
　From happy pieties, thy lucent fans17,
　Fluttering among the faint Olympians,
I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired.
So let me be thy choir, and make a moan
　　Upon the midnight hours;
Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet
　From swinged censer teeming;
Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat
　Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.

Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane18
　In some untrodden region of my mind,
Where branched thoughts19, new grown with pleasant pain,
　Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind:
Far, far around shall those dark-cluster'd trees
　Fledge the wild-ridged mountains steep by steep;
And there by zephyrs20, streams, and birds, and bees,
　The moss-lain Dryads21 shall be lull'd to sleep;
And in the midst of this wide quietness
A rosy sanctuary will I dress
With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain,
　With buds, and bells, and stars without a name,
With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign22,
　Who breeding glowers, will never breed the same:
And there shall be for thee all soft delight
　That shadowy thought23 can win,
A bright torch, and a casement ope at night24,

1. 這裡「了無音調的數字」指的便是文字的詩歌；同時也是濟慈對於自己作品欠缺靈感的謙稱。[Back]

2. 這裡的「海螺」意指賽姬的耳朵猶如貝殼的形狀一般。[Back]

3.? 這一詩行可以對照到〈夜鶯頌〉詩末 "'Was it a vision, or a waking dream? / Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep?"，表達出詩人對於想像/真實之間虛實交錯的關係，有著持續的質疑與辨證。即使詩中賽姬和邱比特的景象是一場夢，它仍然影響了詩人真實的感受；而即使讀者眼前的這首詩僅僅是詩人脫韁的想像，不也觸發我們腦海和心靈實實在在的影像或感動？[Back]

4. 這邊的 "thoughtlessly" 正好區隔了詩人/夢遊者與現實世界， 在這首詩的氛圍領域裡，詩人無須在乎世俗的紛擾，淨空一切隨時準備想像力的奔馳。[Back]

5. 在最初的手稿裡，濟慈原本在此詩行寫下"whispering fan"但是卻被出版者竄改成"whisp'ring roof"，不僅破壞了整個詩節的韻腳，也諷刺的指出外在人為力量對於個人內化的視野，隨時可能的干預。[Back]

6. "scarce espied"這邊意思是很難看得清楚；詩人/夢遊者嘗試要窺視，但視線無法完全捕捉到前方的小溪。[Back]

7. 當時出版濟慈作品的商人用了"Tyrian"這個意指紫紅色染料的字，來取代原本文意不清的"syrian"。[Back]

8. "pinions"是古文的鳥翼，這邊濟慈用來指稱天使的翅膀。[Back]

9. "aurorean"原本是「黎明」，這邊引申為「玫瑰色的，幸福的」 的涵意。[Back]

10. "winged boy"在希羅神話的傳統中代表了愛神維納斯的兒子邱比特。[Back]

11. 賽姬通常不會被比喻成鴿子，但是這裡濟慈受到 Mary Tighe 的作品影響，沿用了「無瑕的鴿子」("spotless
dove")的形容。[Back]

12. "sapphire-region'd star"指的是月亮，Phoebe即是月亮女神。[Back]

13. "Vesper"是金星，黃昏的星辰。[Back]

14. "chain-swung censer"指的是廟宇裡焚香的容器。[Back]

15. 這段似非而是的詩句"pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming"也重複出現在下一詩節。通常先知的形象是激憤而正直的，希望尋求群眾的認同和採信。然而在這裡濟慈呈現的詩人卻是「有著蒼白嘴唇的先知」「夢遊著」，處於狂喜出神的全失狀態。[Back]

16. "fond"代表了「虔誠」的態度；"believing lyre"則是宗教儀式的崇拜。[Back]

17. "lucent fans"意指閃亮的羽翼；有時候賽姬會被形容為有著蝴蝶翅膀的女神。[Back]

18. "fane"這裡指的是廟宇；詩人以詩明志表示要當賽姬的祭司，並且在心裡建造一座廟宇供奉她。[Back]

19. "branched thoughts"是比喻詩人的思想延伸猶如樹木的枝幹一樣。[Back]

20. "zephyrs"指的是陣陣微風。[Back]

21. "dryads"是森林的精靈。[Back]

22. "Fancy e'er could feign"意味想像力可以像園丁一樣形塑大自然的面貌。[Back]

23. "shadowy thoughts"這裡為最後光明的結尾帶來了游移不確定的感覺，也許經由賽姬觸發的種種情思和想像終究不能被完全理解或者捕捉，而什麼時候會出現或者消失也非詩人可以掌握。[Back]

24. "casement"是窗戶。[Back]