眾多經典英文詩歌，早有前輩篳路藍縷，譯介海內。時人譯家亦眾，各有千秋。然詩無達詁，自無達譯。我因讀詩，時覺理解略現不同，偶欲獻上所感；又常見原作格律甚整，實為其詩不可或缺之品性要素，略望探尋如何以中文再現其妙。遂邊玩邊譯，後又不斷修改，終得本文所列之版本。然英文與中文差別甚巨，詩的格律更難相匹，確乃實情。故譯文雖以中詩韻律節奏為基本，卻無固定的對應格式，也未受嚴格的音韻限製；惟盡己所能，持守原詩意味，並體現其音韻節奏之感。未敢妄言兼顧，但求二者相衡。不揣淺陋，於此奉上，以求教於同好。
紫杜鵑 ——答問花自何方來
君來我至皆天道。
譯注：原詩五步抑揚格，aabbcdcdeeffghgh韻式，似為十四行詩之拓展，措辭古雅。故仿古風，而依原韻式迻譯。原載:《愛思想》、《學人Scholar》
附原文：
The Rhodora
On Being Asked, Whence Is The Flower?
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.
