問燭 Querying the Candle
偶然，在停電的晚上 By chance, during that night of power outage
一截白蠟燭有心伴我 A portion of white candle kept me company on purpose
去探久已失落的世界 in visiting a long lost world。
看它殷勤帶路的姿勢 From how anxiously it led the way
和眷眷照顧着我的青光 and its caring pale light
是那樣熟悉而可親 so familiar and endearing
不免被人懷疑 it's difficult to avoid the suspicion
就是小時後巴山夜雨 if it wasn't the one who kept me company reading up to the verge of dreaming
陪我念書到夢的邊緣 during that rainy night on the banana hill at the rear when I was still small
才黯然化煙而去的那枝 before it vanished in the smoke of dark regret 。
每一截爉燭有一段故事 Each portion of the candle has its own story
用蕊心細細地訴給火聽 which its wick would whisper to the fire。
桌上的那一截真的就是 Is that portion on the desk the same as
四十年前相望的那枝？ the one which gazed back at me forty years ago?
真的就是嗎，燭啊，我問你 Is that so, candle, I'm asking you。
一陣風過你輕輕地搖頭 The wind blows and you gently shake your head
有意無意地像在說否 as if half saying no
有意無意地又像在說是 as if half saying yes.
就算你真是從前的那截 Even if you really were that previous portion
在彷然之間被我認出 instantly recognized by me
又怎能指望，在搖幻的光中 how could I expect you, in that flickering ghost-like light,
你也認得出這就是我 to tell that it was me
認出眼前，咳，這陌生的白髮 and tell, coughing, that the alien silver hair before you
就是當日烏絲的少年？ was the dark hair of that youth ?
The poet is sensitve. A candle flickering in the dark during a power failure causes his mind to fly back down memory lane, to a time some forty years ago, when he was studying late into the night in a room facing the rear hill of bananas in the rain. He ask the candle if it recognized him but a different him, hair still not yet turned silver.
"Querying the candle in the wind, The question of eternal love, Candle-light like passion of love, In the wind, flying and making its escape, The outlet of the heat of the beating heart, Wind mills of the heart in love..." Good evening, my dear old friend !
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/10/2010 06:23:00]I love Elton John's song. He's a very talented singer composer. Can love be eternal, the human heart being swayed by new feelings every day? Thank you so much for your contribution.
自古詩人皆多愁善感,余光中也不例外!
回覆刪除一枝白蠟燭在偶然的机會下,把四十年前的少年時空與當下暮年境況串聫起來,在余詩人的筆觸下,抒發了年華老去的無奈。透過搖晃的燭光,動態地細訴四十年前少年往事,憶苦思甜,人到了某個年紀,總喜歡想當年,尋回失去的時光和美好的回憶!
[版主回覆11/10/2010 09:43:00]
You're right. But it's not easy. I try not to think about my own past. I try to put a China wall between my present and my childhood. But I found that the China wall was made not of granite but of paper, the kind of paper used in ancient Chinese and sometime Japanee partition windows. Even writing this blog has caused me to cry I don't know how many times. A stray word here and there, a piano piece there by Chopin or Schumann is sufficient to trigger a flood of uncontrollable tears. But my head tells me I have to be strong. I cannot allow myself to be turned into stone.
詩人都是多愁善感的 , 否則便不是詩人了 . 對詩人來說 , 任何事物都可以入詩 : 花落悲秋 , 見月思人 , 聽雨遺愁 , 臨川懷古 … 只要是出自衷腸便能感人 . 杜牧何嘗不見燭興嘆 , 滴滴燭淚伴着詩人的淚水 :
回覆刪除多情卻似總無情， 唯覺樽前笑不成。
蠟燭有心還惜別， 替人垂淚到天明。
[版主回覆11/10/2010 11:04:00]Alcohol lowers our defences. That's why Li Bai is able to write so many good poems. Yes it's true. Poets are particulary strong in associative thinking. Hence they see hidden links between apparently disparate images and their feelings are so easily engaged!