ApologiaIs it thy will that I should wax and wane,Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,And at thy pleasure weave that web of painWhose brightest threads are each a wasted day?

Is it thy will—Love that I love so well—That my Soul's House should be a tortured spotWherein, like evil paramours, must dwellThe quenchless flame, the worm that dieth not?

Nay, if it be thy will I shall endure,And sell ambition at the common mart,And let dull failure be my vestiture,And sorrow dig its grave within my heart.

Perchance it may be better so—at leastI have not made my heart a heart of stone,Nor starved my boyhood of its goodly feast,Nor walked where Beauty is a thing unknown.

Many a man hath done so; sought to fenceIn straitened bonds the soul that should be free,Trodden the dusty road of common sense,While all the forest sang of liberty,Not marking how the spotted hawk in flightPassed on wide pinion through the lofty air,To where the steep untrodden mountain heightCaught the last tresses of the Sun God's hair.

Or how the little flower he trod upon,The daisy, that white-feathered shield of gold,Followed with wistful eyes the wandering sunContent if once its leaves were aureoled.

But surely it is something to have beenThe best belovèd for a little while,To have walked hand in hand with Love, and seenHis purple wings flit once across thy smile.

Ay!

though the gorgèd asp of passion feedOn my boy's heart, yet have I burst the bars,Stood face to face with Beauty, known indeedThe Love which moves the Sun and all the stars!

辩护词莫非是你的意愿让我时弱时强，用我的一袭金衣交换灰色粗呢，按照你的心愿去编织痛苦之网，每根灿烂的网线是我虚掷的时日？

莫非是你的意愿——爱我至深的爱——我灵魂的居所是一个拷刑场，其中居住着如同奸夫淫妇的不灭的烈火和不死的蠕虫。

不，倘若是你的意愿，我将忍受，把我的雄心拿去公共市场出售，让阴郁的失败成为我的衣衫，让悲哀在我的心脏发掘它的坟墓。

或许那样更好——至少我不至于把自己的心脏变作一块石头，不让美食的少年时光为饥饿所苦，不去涉足美不知为何物的场所。

许多人如此这般做了；渴望用藩篱来拘禁本应自由的灵魂；踩踏布满尘埃的常识之路，而所有森林正在为自由而歌吟，却没有注意染上污点的兀鹰伸展宽大的翅膀穿越苍茫的天空，抵达人迹罕至的巍峨高峰，这高峰握有太阳神最后一缕发丝。

或者他怎样蹂躏了小小的花朵，雏菊，那饰有白羽的金盾，以渴望的眼神追随漫游的太阳，一旦花叶蒙上光晕便喜不自胜。

而这纯然是人间至美的盛事一桩，成为最受钟爱者，哪怕只是片刻，与爱神手拉手漫步，亲眼目睹他紫色的翅膀轻轻掠过你的微笑。

哦！

尽管饕餮的激情毒蛇吞噬我少年的心，我毕竟挣脱了牢笼，与美面对面地站立，真切地体会了那驱动太阳和众星的爱！

【英汉对照|王尔德诗选：辩护词查看网站：[db:时间]】