1836年2月，舒曼向克拉拉的父亲公开了他和克拉拉的恋情，希望能得到他的祝福，但是克拉拉的父亲坚决反对这门亲事。舒曼不断地争取，但却一次次失败。下面这封信写于1838年，当时他们的恋情仍然没有得到克拉拉父亲的认可，两人正经历着分离的痛苦。但就像所有百折不挠的爱情那样，痛苦的煎熬只是增加了思念的浓度。从舒曼给克拉拉的情书中，我们能真切地感受到他的款款深情、炽热爱恋、因爱而生的狂喜与困惑、面对爱情时的谦卑与执着……
Clara,
克拉拉：
How happy your last letters have made me—those since Christmas Eve! I should like to call you by all the endearing epithets1), and yet I can find no lovelier word than the simple word “dear”, but there is a particular way of saying it. My dear one, then, I have wept for joy to think that you are mine, and often wonder if I deserve you. One would think that no one man’s heart and brain could stand all the things that are crowded into one day. Where do these thousands of thoughts, wishes, sorrows, joys, and hopes come from? Day in, day out, the procession goes on. But how light-hearted I was yesterday and the day before! There shone out of your letters so noble a spirit, such faith, such a wealth of love! What would I not do for love of you, my own Clara! The knights of old were better off2); they could go through fire or slay dragons to win their ladies, but we of today have to content ourselves with more prosaic3) methods, such as smoking fewer cigars, and the like. After all, though, we can love, knights or no knights; and so, as ever, only the times change, not men’s hearts. 
读了你平安夜以来给我写的那些信，我心中无比欢欣！我多么想用所有亲昵的称呼来唤你，却发现没有哪个词比简简单单一个“亲爱的”更甜美了。不过，当我用这三个字来唤你时，方式自是与别人不同。亲爱的，想到你是属于我的，我禁不住喜极而泣，但又时常惶恐，不知自己是否配得上你。通常，人们都会认为，任何人的心灵与大脑都无法在一天内承受那么多的情感起伏。那种种思恋、愿望、悲伤、喜悦和希望都是从哪儿来的呢？日复一日，这些情感轮番在我的心中涤荡。不过，前天和昨天，我却感觉无比轻松！因为从你的来信中，我看到了如此高贵的灵魂、如此坚定的信念、如此浓烈的爱！我亲爱的克拉拉，我爱你如此深切，做什么我都愿意！旧时的骑士们远比我们幸运，为了赢得爱人的芳心，他们可以穿越火海或者英勇屠龙，而今天的我们只能满足于平淡的方式来表达爱意，比如少抽点烟，诸如此类。然而，不管是不是骑士，毕竟我们还能彼此相爱；因此，一切都和以往一样，改变的只是时间，而非男人的情怀。
I have a hundred things to write to you, great and small, if only I could do it neatly, but my writing grows more and more indistinct, a sign, I fear, of heart weakness. There are terrible hours when your image forsakes4) me, when I wonder anxiously whether I have ordered my life as wisely as I might, whether I had any right to bind you to me, my angel, or can really make you as happy as I should wish. These doubts all arise, I am inclined to think, from your father’s attitude towards me. It is so easy to accept other people’s estimate of oneself. Your father’s behavior makes me ask myself if really I am so bad—of such humble standing—as to invite such treatment from anyone. Accustomed to easy victory over difficulties, to the smiles of fortune, and to affection, I have been spoiled by having things made too easy for me, and now I have to face refusal, insult and calumny5). I have read of many such things in novels, but I thought too highly of myself to imagine I could ever be the hero of a family tragedy of the Kotzebue6) sort myself. If I had ever done your father an injury, he might well hate me; but I cannot see why he should despise me and, as you say, hate me without any reason. But my turn will come and I will show him how I love you and himself; for I will tell you, as a secret, that I really love and respect your father for his many great and fine qualities, as no one but yourself can do. I have a natural inborn love and reverence for him, as for all strong characters, and it makes his antipathy for me doubly painful. Well, he may sometime declare peace, and say to us, “Take each other, then.”
我有很多很多的事想在信里向你倾诉，有大事也有小事，要是我能写得工整一些就好了，但我的字迹变得越来越难以辨认，我担心这是心脏衰竭的征兆。总有些时候让我觉得害怕、难熬，有时是臆想中你抛弃我的时候，有时是为前途焦虑的时候，因为我不知自己是否对生活作出了明智的安排，不知我是否有权利让你和我厮守终生，我的天使，不知我是否能如自己所盼望的那样让你过得幸福。我总是觉得，这些时常萦绕在我心头的疑虑源于你父亲对我的态度。人总是容易被别人对自己的评价所左右。你父亲对我的态度让我经常扪心自问，我是不是真的那么一无是处—是不是真的那么微不足道——以致会让别人如此对待我。过去的我习惯于不费吹灰之力便战胜困难、赢得胜利，习惯于幸运女神眷顾，习惯于被爱包围，一切对我来说都来得太过容易，我就像是一个被宠坏的孩子；而现在，我却必须面对拒绝、侮辱和诽谤。我曾在小说里读到过很多这样的故事，但是我过去自视过高，从未想过有一天自己也会成为科策比式家庭悲剧中的主人公。如果我曾伤害过你的父亲，那么他完全有理由憎恨我；但我始终无法理解他为何如此鄙视我，而且，如你所说，毫无缘由地恨我。但是，我终会有机会证明自己的，我会让他知道我是多么爱你，也多么爱他；我告诉你一个秘密，其实我真的非常尊敬也非常爱你的父亲，就像你爱他那样，因为他身上有很多伟大、优秀的品质。我对他的爱与尊敬由心而发，仿佛源自天生的血脉亲情，对如他这样的性格坚强之人，我一向如此；也正是因为如此，他对我的厌恶令我倍感痛苦。不过，也许某一天他会突然宣布休战，然后对我们说：“你们结婚吧。”
You cannot think how your letter has raised and strengthened me.… You are splendid, and I have much more reason to be proud of you than you of me. I have made up my mind, though, to read all your wishes in your face. Then you will think, even though you don’t say it, that your Robert is a really good sort, that he is entirely yours, and loves you more than words can say. You shall indeed have cause to think so in the happy future. I still see you as you looked in your little cap that last evening. I still hear you call me du7). Clara, I heard nothing of what you said but that du. Don’t you remember?
你无法想象，你的信给予了我怎样的勇气和力量……你是如此卓越而迷人，如果你曾因我而骄傲的话，我则有更多的理由为你而自豪。不过，我已下定决心，要学会从观察你的“颜”色来读懂你的心思。如此一来，即使你闭口不言，我对你的想法也了然于胸：你会想，你的罗伯特的确是好样的，他完完全全属于你，他对你的爱如此深切，连语言都难以形容。在美好的未来，你真的有理由这样去想。直到现在，我眼前仍然能浮现你那天晚上头戴那顶小帽子的模样。我耳边仍然能听见你用表示亲密的“你”来唤我。克拉拉，你说的其他话我都没听见，只听见了那个“你”。你还记得吗？
But I see you in many another unforgettable guise. Once you were in a black dress, going to the theatre with Emilia List; it was during our separation. I know you will not have forgotten; it is vivid with me. Another time you were walking in the Thomasgässchen with an umbrella up, and you avoided me in desperation. And yet another time, as you were putting on your hat after a concert, our eyes happened to meet, and yours were full of the old unchanging love. I picture you in all sorts of ways, as I have seen you since. I did not look at you much, but you charmed me so immeasurably.… Ah, I can never praise you enough for yourself or for your love of me, which I don’t really deserve.
不过，我也记得你身着其他衣服时的样子，每一次都那么令人难以忘怀。有一次你身穿黑色外套，与埃米莉亚·利斯特一起去剧院看戏，当时正值我们被迫分离的时候。我知道你不会忘记，那画面始终鲜活地印在我的脑海里。另外一次，在托马斯巷中，你手撑雨伞，正往前走，忽望见我，于是满脸绝望地避开。还有一次，在一场音乐会结束后，你正戴帽子，忽然，我们的目光在不经意间相遇，你的眼中满是爱恋，一如既往，从未改变。从我上次见过你之后，我曾在脑海中用千百种方式勾勒你的模样。我们见面的次数不多，但你却让我如此着迷，思恋无限……啊，无论我如何歌颂你本人，赞美你对我的爱，都不算言过其实，而你对我的爱呵，叫我如何才能真的担得起。
Robert
罗伯特
1. epithet [ˈepɪθet] n. 绰号，称号
2. better off：较幸运的；境况更好的
3. prosaic [prəʊˈzeɪɪk] adj. 平凡的
4. forsake [fə(r)ˈseɪk] vt. 放弃，抛弃
5. calumny [ˈkæləmnɪ] n. 诽谤，中伤
6. Kotzebue：奥古斯特·冯·科策比(August von Kotzebue, 1761~1819)，德国戏剧家，写过两百多部戏剧。
7. du：〈 德〉你(第二人称代词，主要用在同辈或比较亲密的人之间)