Hymn To The Night
                                Henry　Wadsworth　Longfellow(1807-1882)*

        I heard the trailing garments of the Night
        Sweep through her marble halls!
        I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
        From celestial walls!*

        I felt her presence, by its spell of might
        Stop over me from above:
        The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
        As of the one I love.*

        I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,
        The manifold, soft chimes,
        That fill the haunted chambers of the Night
        Like some old poet's rhymes.*

        From the cool cisterns of the midnight air
        My spirit drank repose;
        The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,-
        From those deep cisterns flows.*

        O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
        What man has borne before!
        Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care
        And they complain no more.*

        Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breath
        this prayer!
        Descend with broad-winged flight,
        The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the
        most fair,
        The best-beloved Night!


注：

*亨利·瓦兹沃思·朗费罗。美国作家。美国19世纪最著名的诗人，著有《海华沙之歌》（1855年）,并翻译了（1865-1867年）但丁的《神曲》。


*本节将夜晚拟人化，比喻成高贵优雅的淑女。marble halls和celestial walls都指天空。

*本节说明了诗人热爱夜晚的原因，即calm, majestic presence，那就是夜晚的魅力所在。

*本节描述了夜晚发出的各种声音，有忧伤，也有快乐，就像诗歌一样抑扬顿挫。haunted chambers指夜空。

*本节说明诗人从夜晚中感悟最多的是perpetual peace，他将夜晚的空气比喻成水槽，里面流淌着永恒的安详。

*诗人从夜晚的安详中学会了忍耐，夜晚让我忘却了忧愁，停止了抱怨。

*本节突出强调了夜晚的特征，就是“平和”，那是希腊神话中Orestes在杀害母亲及母亲的情人之后所祈求的。诗人歌颂夜晚，也就是歌颂夜晚的平和。