原作是五音步抑扬格体英文诗歌。前几天，翻译家陶志健先生在<美语世界>论坛发表了其七言体中文翻译，译文优美，功力深厚，受益良多。这里，我把它以现代诗歌体的形式翻译过来，不拘泥于原作音步格律，用现代白话语言，不漏掉不压缩不扩展只照搬原作意境与意像，原位出现，力求品其原汁原味。粗糙匆就之作，期盼陶先生及众网友批评指正。
The Rhodora
On Being Asked, Whence Is The Flower?
《紫杜鹃》
有人问，花从哪里来？
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
作者：拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生
翻译：忒绿
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
五月里，当海风响彻穿透我们的静谧，
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
我看见树林里新鲜的杜鹃，
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
无叶花朵在潮湿的角落里绽放，
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
让荒漠和涓涓溪流感到欢畅。
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
紫色花瓣，落进池塘，
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
它们的美丽让黑水欣喜若狂；
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
红鸟会来这里浴翅乘凉，
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
并向令其自惭形秽的花朵倾诉衷肠。
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
紫杜鹃！如果圣贤问你何缘
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
把魅力抛洒耗费在天地之间，
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
告诉他们，亲爱的，如果眼睛生来为了观看，
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
那么美丽就是杜鹃存在的因缘：
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
你为何生长在这里，啊，与玫瑰争妍！
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
我从没过问，也无从明白：
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
不过，以我肤浅之见，判断
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.
是带我来到这里的同一种力量也把你带来。
