Nothing so fair, so pure lies on the surface of the earth.

It is a clear and deep green well, half a mile long;

A perennial spring in the midst of pine and oak woods.

It is earth’s eye;

looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature;

it is a mirror which no stone can crack,

whose quicksilver will never wear off;

a mirror which retains no breath that is breathed on it,

but sends its own to float as clouds high above its surface,

and be reflected on its bosom still.

There are few traces of man’s hand to be seen.

The water laves the shore as it did a thousand years ago.

The water is of such crystalline purity that the body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness,

which, as the limbs are magnified and distorted,

produces a monstrous effect making fit studies for Michelangelo.

So pure so fair.

 

地表上再難見如此純粹優美

翠綠的潔淨泉水，寬度約莫半哩

在松橡林間的常春一隅

它是地球之眼

一眼望去，量測觀者的生命縱深

它的鏡面能抗石擊

從不脫落水銀

表面不留下呼氣的殘影

反而吞吐浮雲，高高在水面之上

仍敞開胸懷掩映

斧鑿之痕幾不可見

湖水拍打沿岸，一如千年以往

碧波清澈如水晶，沐浴者潔白若凝脂

手足經曲折放大

勝景足令米開朗基羅著迷

純淨而優美