胡適還在1924年和1925年，先後翻譯了英國作家哈代的兩首詩《別離》《月光裡》。John Donne的 Present in Absence

 胡適還在1924年和1925年，先後翻譯了英國作家哈代的兩首詩《別離》《月光裡》。

胡適譯此詩末段，不過抄錯第一字，是By，非In。他知道出處是John Donne的
Present in Absence，不過他只記得詩題是"Absence"。他引的末段之標點也與下述的不同。

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The Hand of Ethelberta by Thomas Hardy: Chapter 40

www.online-literature.com › Thomas Hardy › The Hand of Ethelberta

'By absence this good means I gain, That I can catch her, Where none can watch her, In some close corner of my brain: There I embrace and kiss her; And so I ...

　　

English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray. The Harvard Classics.  1909–14.

176. Present in Absence

John Donne (1573–1631)

ABSENCE, hear thou my protestation     Against thy strength,     Distance, and length; Do what thou canst for alteration:   For hearts of truest mettle         5   Absence doth join, and Time doth settle. Who loves a mistress of such quality,     His mind hath found     Affection’s ground Beyond time, place, and all mortality.         10   To hearts that cannot vary   Absence is present, Time doth tarry. My senses want their outward motion     Which now within     Reason doth win,         15 Redoubled by her secret notion:   Like rich men that take pleasure   In hiding more than handling treasure. By absence this good means I gain,     That I can catch her,         20     Where none can watch her, In some close corner of my brain:   There I embrace and kiss her;   And so enjoy her and none miss her.

胡適譯： 別離

不見也有不見的好處：
    我倒可以見著她，
    不怕有人監著她，
在我腦海的深窈處；
    我可以抱著她，親她的臉；
    雖然不見，抵得長相見。

pp.119-120
----
pp. 125-27

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936).  The New Poetry: An Anthology.  1917.

152. In the Moonlight

By Thomas Hardy

“O LONELY workman, standing there In a dream, why do you stare and stare At her grave, as no other grave there were? “If your great gaunt eyes so importune Her soul by the shine of this corpse-cold moon,         5 Maybe you’ll raise her phantom soon!” “Why, fool, it is what I would rather see Than all the living folk there be; But alas, there is no such joy for me!” “Ah—she was one you loved, no doubt,         10 Through good and evil, through rain and drought, And when she passed, all your sun went out?” “Nay: she was the woman I did not love, Whom all the others were ranked above, Whom during her life I thought nothing of.”

胡適說：「我讀了覺得它好玩，遂譯了出來。」這首詩確實有味，胡適到底還是個有趣味之人。另一首《月光裡》卻是別一種情境了。詩以擬兩人在墳地的談話交織。一個問這麼大一片墳地，你為何只看著一個墳墓，不怕看出鬼來。另一聲音回答：我寧願見伊的鬼。

胡適譯： 月光裡


    『喂，孤寂的工人，你為什麼
        癡癡地站在這兒瞪著伊的墳墓，
        好像偌大的墳園只葬著伊一個？』
***
       『萬一你那雙絕望的眼睛，
           在這淒冷的月光裡惱怒了伊的魂靈，
           萬一伊的鬼走了出來，可不要嚇死了人？』
***
        『你懂什麼！那可不趁了我的心願！
            我寧願見伊的鬼，不願看誰的面。
            可憐呵，我那會有那樣的奇緣。』
***
     『這樣看來，伊一定是你戀愛的人，
      安樂與患難變不了你的心;
      如今伊死了，你便失去了你的光明? 』

***
     『不是的：伊不曾受到過我愛情的供養;
     我當時總覺得別人都比伊強;

     可憐伊在日，我從不曾把伊放在心上!』