The Indian Serenade

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

I arise from dreams of thee

In the first sweet sleep of night,

When the winds are breathing low,

And the stars are shining bright

I arise from dreams of thee,

And a spirit in my feet

Has led me -- who knows how? --

To thy chamber-window, sweet!

The wandering airs they faint

On the dark, the silent stream, --

The champak odors fall

Like sweet thoughts in a dream,

The nightingale‘s complaint,

It dies upon her heart,

As I must die on thine,

O, beloved as thou art!

O, lift me from the grass!

I die, I faint, I fall!

Let thy love in kisses rain

On my lips and eyelids pale,

My cheek is cold and white, alas!

My Heart beats loud and fast

Oh! press it close to thine again,

Where it will break at last!

【查良铮】译：

午夜初眠梦见了你,

我从这美梦里醒来，

风儿正悄悄地呼吸，

星星放射着光彩；

午夜初眠梦见了你，

呵，我起来，任凭脚步

（是什么精灵在作祟？）

把我带到你的门户。

漂游的乐曲昏迷在

幽暗而寂静的水上，

金香木的芬芳溶化了，

象梦中甜蜜的想象；

那夜莺已不再怨诉，

怨声死在她的心怀；

让我死在你的怀中吧，

因为你是这么可爱！

哦，把我从草上举起！

我完了！我昏迷，倒下！

让你的爱情化为吻

朝我的眼和嘴唇倾洒。

我的脸苍白而冰冷，

我的心跳得多急切；

哦，快把它压在你心上，

它终将在那儿碎裂。

【江枫】译：

夜晚第一度香甜的睡眠里，

从梦你的梦中起身下了地，

习习的夜风轻轻地吹，

灿烂的星星闪耀着光辉；

从梦你的梦中起身下了地，

有个精灵附在我的脚底，

引导着我,哦,不可思议，

来到你的纱窗下,亲爱的！

四处游荡的乐声已疲惫，

湮没在幽暗静寂的清溪—

金香木的芳馨已经消逝，

就像梦中那甜美的情思；

夜莺一声声泣血的怨啼，

已在她的心底溘然死去—

我此生将在你心上熄灭，

哦,我所热爱的只是你！

 哦,把我从草地上扶起，

我气促、无力，我昏迷，

让你的爱化作吻的密雨，

落在我苍白的嘴和眼皮；

我面颊冰凉，惨白无血！

我心音沉重，跳动迅疾—

哦,再把它拥紧在心窝里，

它将在你的心窝里碎裂。

译本赏析（仅供参考）：

Indian serenade is a passionate love serenade. A man is intoxicated with a sweet dream in the middle of the night. The winds are breathing low, the stars are shining, he gets up and wanders around the girl’s chamber just because of dreaming of his beloved girl. He sings a song named serenade. From the perspective of the whole poem, Zha's version is more concise than Jiang's, and the translation methods are mostly literal translation. And many adjectives are added to Jiang's translation to make the translation more aesthetic. For example, “In the first sweet sleep of night”, Zha translates it into “午夜初眠”while Jiang’s version is “夜晚第一度香甜的睡梦里”which is more repetitive than the former. But for this sentence “when the winds are breathing low”, Zha’s version is“风儿正悄悄地呼吸”. Although it expresses the meaning of the original text, it is too literal to be aesthetic. Jiang translates it as“习习的夜风轻轻地吹”, which lets the readers have the same feeling of the hero in this poem. When translating the word “lift”, Zha’s version is“举起”，giving people a rough feeling. From the poem, the hero “faint and fall”, so he should be “扶起”not“举起”.