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Sonnet #17
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say 'This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
So should my papers, yellow'd with their age,
Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme.
2、were:should be.deserts:merits；注意大利deserts 与 parts同韵（当时 er 的读音与 ar 相同，恰如今日之 clerk,serjeant).
3、it:i.e. my verse.as:like.tomb:monument；与第1行come 押韵。
4、parts:good qualities.
5、write:describe in writing.
6、fresh numbers:lively verses.number(v.):(1)celebrate；(2)enumerate.注意 numbers number 为一对半谐音（assonance).
7、The age to come:The future generations.
8、touches:(1)strokes of the brush，笔触；(2)traits,features,姿色。ne'er:never.touched:(1)delineated；(2)reached，这里 touches,touched 又是一对半谐音。earthly:humen.
9、should:would.papers:writings.
10、scorned:taunted；嘲笑，奚落。less truth than tongue:less facts than words，话儿多实情少。
11、true rights:deserved praise.rage:madness；从古代直到十八世纪，西方常言诗人灵感是一种疯狂，所谓 a fine frenzy,an enthusiasm（神附于体）。
12、stretched meter:poetic overcolouring,诗体的虚饰夸张。antique:old,bygone.
13、that time:then.
14、live twice:live a double life.it:i.e. your child.rhyme:verse.
日期: 2007年4月14 周六
编辑: 2007年4月15 周日