Plea for a Captive

By W. S. Merwin

Woman with the caught fox

By the scruff1. scruff: 后颈部。, you can drop your hopes:

It will not tame though you prove kind,

Though you entice2. entice: 引诱。it with fat ducks

Patiently to your fingertips

And in dulcet3. dulcet: 悦耳的，常常形容声音，在此指用悦耳的声音呼唤以表达爱意。love enclose it

Do not suppose it will turn friend,

Dog4. dog: v. 跟着，比喻像狗一样跟着。your heels, sleep at your feet,

Be happy in the house,

No,

It will only trot to and fro5. trot: 小跑；to and fro: 来回地，往复地。,

To and fro, with vacant eye,

Neither will its pelt improve

Nor its disposition, twisting

The raw song of its debasement

Through the long nights, and in your love,

In your delicate meats tasting

Nothing but its own decay

(As at first hand ! have learned)

Oh

Kill it at once or let it go.

抓住狐狸后颈往前拖的女人，

你可以放弃你的希望：

它不会驯服，即使你善待它，

即使你用肥鸭引诱它，

耐心地引诱它来到你手边，

用迷人的爱拥抱它，

不要以为它会变成朋友，

跟在你身后，睡在你脚边，

在屋里很快活，

不，

它只会在屋里跑来跑去，

跑来跑去，两眼茫然，

它的毛皮不会有丝毫改善，

它的品性也不会，它只会

因屈辱而哼出原始的悲歌，

彻夜不停，不会从你的爱、

从你喂它的肉食中品尝出

任何味道，除了自身的灭亡

（正如当初它了解到那样）

哦，

要么放了它，要么立即杀了它。