求一篇英文诗歌，上课老师要求读给大家听，优美或者唯美一些的，或者有一定内涵的，内容不限

What I Have Lived For

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy---ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness---that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what---at last---I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hatred burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

译文：

我为何而生

我的一生被三种简单却又无比强烈的激情所控制：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难难以抑制的屿。这些激情像狂风，把我恣情吹向四方，掠过苦痛的大海，迫使我濒临绝望的边缘。

我寻求爱，首先因为它使我心为之着迷，这种难以名状的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去换取哪怕几个小时这样的幸福。我寻求爱，还因为它能缓解我心理上的孤独中，我感觉心灵的战栗，仿如站在世界的边缘而面前是冰冷，无底的死亡深渊。我寻求爱，因为在我所目睹的结合中，我仿佛看到了圣贤与诗人们所向往的天堂之景。这就是我所寻找的，虽然对人的一生而言似乎有些遥不可及，但至少是我用尽一生所领悟到的。

我用同样的激情去寻求知识。我希望能理解人类的心灵，希望能够知道群星闪烁的缘由。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的“数即万物”的思想。我已经悟出了其中的一点点道理，尽管并不是很多。

爱和知识，用它们的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情却总把人又拽回到尘世中来。痛苦的呼喊声回荡在我的内心。饥饿的孩子，受压迫的难民，贫穷和痛苦的世界，都是对人类所憧憬的美好生活的无情嘲弄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，我也难逃其折磨。

这就是我的一生。我已经找到它的价值。而且如果有机会，我很愿意能再活它一次。

When Love Beckons You

When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you, believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

But if, in your fear, you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but it self and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a payer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

译文：

爱的召唤

当爱召唤你时，请追随她，尽管爱的道路艰难险峻。当爱的羽翼拥抱你时，请顺从她，尽管隐藏在其羽翼之下的剑可能会伤到你。当爱向你诉说时，请相信她，尽管她的声音可能打破你的梦想，就如同北风吹落花园里所有的花瓣。

爱会给你戴上桂冠，也会折磨你。爱会助你成长，也会给你修枝。爱会上升到枝头，抚爱你在阳光下颤动力的嫩枝，也会下潜至根部，撼动力你紧抓泥土的根基。

但是，如果你在恐惧之中只想寻求爱的平和与快乐，那你就最好掩盖真实的自我，避开爱的考验，进入不分季节的世界，在那里你将欢笑，但并非开怀大笑，你将哭泣，但并非尽情地哭。爱只将自己付出，也只得到自己。爱一无所有，也不会为谁所有，因为爱本身就已自足。

爱除了实现自我别无他求。但是如果你爱而又不得不有所求，那就请期望：

将自己融化并像奔流的溪水一般向夜晚吟唱自己优美的曲调。

明了过多的温柔所带来的苦痛。

被自己对爱的理解所伤害；

并情愿快乐地悲伤。

在黎明带着轻快的心醒来并感谢又一个有家的日子；

在黄昏怀着感恩之心回家；

然后为内心所爱之人祈祷，吟唱赞美之歌，并带着祷告和歌声入眠。

The Goodness of Life

Though there is much to be concerned about, there is far, far more for which to be thankful. Though life’s goodness can at times be overshadowed, it is never outweighed.

For every single act that is senselessly destructive, there are thousands more small, quiet acts of love, kindness and compassion. For every person who seeks to hurt, there are many, many more who devote their lives to helping and to healing.

There is goodness to life that cannot be denied.

In the most magnificent vistas and in the smallest details, look closely, for that goodness always comes shining through.

There is no limit to the goodness of life. It grows more abundant with each new encounter. The more you experience and appreciate the goodness of life, the more there is to be lived.

Even when the cold winds blow and the world seems to be covered in foggy shadows, the goodness of life lives on. Open your eyes, open your heart, and you will see that goodness is everywhere.

Though the goodness of life seems at times to suffer setbacks, it always endures. For in the darkest moment it becomes vividly clear that life is a priceless treasure. And so the goodness of life is made even stronger by the very things that would oppose it.

Time and time again when you feared it was gone forever you found that the goodness of life was really only a moment away. Around the next corner, inside every moment, the goodness of life is there to surprise and delight you.

Take a moment to let the goodness of life touch your spirit and calm your thoughts. Then, share your good fortune with another. For the goodness of life grows more and more magnificent each time it is given away.

Though the problems constantly scream for attention and the conflicts appear to rage ever stronger, the goodness of life grows stronger still, quietly, peacefully, with more purpose and meaning than ever before.

译文：

生命的美好

尽管有很多事让人忧虑，但相比而言，值得感激的事要多得多。尽管生命的美好有时被蒙上阴影，但它却永远不会被埋没。

相对于每一个无谓的破坏行为而言，都有更多数以千计更为微小的，包含着爱，友善和同情的举动静静地上演着。相对于每一个试图伤害他人的人而言，都有更多的人致力于帮助他人，治愈他人的创伤。

生命的美好不能否认。

在最为壮观的前景和最为琐碎的细节中，请仔细观察，因为美好的事物总是散发着耀眼的光芒闪亮登场。

生命的美好没有界限。每一次相遇都会使这美好变得越发丰富。你经历得越多，越能欣赏生命的美好，生命中的美好就会变得越多。

即使当寒风袭来，整个世界似乎被雾气掩盖之时，生命的美好仍会存在。睁开双眼，打开心扉，你就会发现这美好无处不在。

尽管生命的美好有时似乎遭受挫折，但它总会挺过来。因为，在最黑暗的时刻，有一点变得格外清楚，那就是，生命是无价的财富。因此，下正是与生命的美好相对立的事物使其越发强大。

无数次地，当你担心这美好已经远离之时，你会发现生命的美好其实只与你相隔须臾。它就在下一角落，存在于每个时刻之间，等着给你惊喜。

花些时间让生命的美好感动自己的灵魂，放松自己的思绪。然后，把你的幸运与他人分享。因为生命的美好会在每次给予之间变得越来越壮观。

尽管总是有问题让你去关注，冲突也似乎愈演愈烈，但生命的美好却总是静静地，平和地，带着比以往更强的意志和更多的价值变得更加强大。

这几篇使我们学校英语美文背诵大赛的选用稿件，给你选了几篇，你看行不行，有需要的话再找我要就行。