W. B. Yeats - When Helen Lived 汉译

We have cried in our despair

That men desert,

For some trivial affair

Or noisy, insolent sport,

Beauty that we have won

From bitterest hours;

Yet we, had we walked within

Those topless towers

Where Helen waked with her boy,

Had given but as the rest

Of the men and women of Troy,

A word and a jest.

海伦在世时

威廉·巴特勒·叶芝

在绝望中我们曾号泣：

为了一点琐事

或喧闹、野蛮的竞技，

人们竟然放弃

我们曾历尽千辛万苦

赢得的美人儿；

然而，假如我们漫步

在那些高塔里，

遇见海伦和她的情侣，

我们也只不过

一如特洛伊别的男女，

寒喧一声，戏谑一句。