包慧怡：西方文学中的“玫瑰”意象，是诗人们长久的秘密( 八 ) 雷杜德是拿破仑一世的妻子约瑟芬皇后的

第三朵，不红也不白，竟偷了双方，

还在赃物里添上一样：你的气息；

犯了盗窃重罪，它正骄傲盛放，

却被一条复仇的毛虫啃啮至死。

我还看过更多花儿，但没见谁

不曾从你那儿窃取芬芳或色彩。

（包慧怡译）

Sonnet 99

William Shakespeare

The forward violet thus did I chide:

Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,

If not from my love’s breath? The purple pride

Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells

In my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dy’d.

The lily I condemned for thy hand,

And buds of marjoram had stol’n thy hair;

The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,

One blushing shame, another white despair;

A third, nor red nor white, had stol’n of both,

And to his robbery had annex’d thy breath;

But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth

A vengeful canker eat him up to death.

More .owers I noted, yet I none could see,

But sweet, or colour it had stol’n from thee.

诗人在这首商籁中为我们提出了一系列虚构的“物种起源”问题：“紫罗兰的紫色来自哪里？红白玫瑰的芬芳来自哪里？”通过指责各种花卉犯下的林林总总的“偷窃罪” ，本诗旨在“花式表达”对“你”毫无保留的爱和赞美。第一节诗中，诗人斥责紫罗兰是“甜蜜的小偷” ，说它从自己的爱人那里偷走了两样东西：一是甜蜜的花香，偷自“我”爱人的呼吸；二是脸颊上的血色，偷自“我”爱人的静脉The purple pride/ Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells /In my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dy’d 。