Yimusanfendi

Sonnet  8
( VIII)
 
Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:
Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly,
Or else receiv’st with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering;
Resembling sire and child and happy mother,
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: ‘Thou single wilt prove none.’

音乐只为欣赏，为何听到音乐却悲伤？
甜蜜不与甜蜜为敌，快乐在快乐中欢畅。
为何喜爱收到时让你不高兴的东西，
又为何为那收到时高兴的东西烦恼？
如果精心调校的音乐真地很和谐，
那协奏的合音却令你的耳朵烦扰。
它们责备你，不过用甜美的声音，
责备你毁掉和谐因为你仍然独身。
看这根弦，是那根弦甜蜜的夫君，
怎样因同一个指令和谐地相互呼应；  
宛如父亲、儿子，和快活的母亲，  
它们众口同声，发出那悦耳的声音。  
它们无言的诗歌很多，却似乎雷同，
都对你唱：“你若独身，一切将成空。”