Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye
That thou consumest thyself in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap1 to die.
The world will wail2 thee, like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children's eyes her husband's shape in mind.
Look, what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unused, the user so destroys it.
No love toward others in that bosom3 sits
That on himself such murderous shame commits.
是不是由于怕打湿你寡妇的眼，
你在独身生活里消磨你一个人？
哦，假如你不幸无后离开人间，
世界就要哀哭你，像丧偶的妻。
世界将是你寡妇，她永远伤心
你生前没给她留下你的相貌；
其他的寡妇，靠儿女们的双眼，
反能把良人的肖像在心里长保。
看吧，浪子在世上的种种浪费
只换了主人，世界仍然在享受；
但美的消耗在人间或有终尾：
留着不需要，就等于任由它腐朽。
如此的心决不会对其他人有爱，
既然它那样忍心把自己戕害。
