Got a little time after the Spanish lesson yesterday. Finally the new textbooks have arrived. I was so fortunate, one of our fellow classmates was so considerate that she bought extra copies for the other students, knowing that some of us may be so busy that we may not have time to go to that only bookstore in Tsimshatsui with whom the college has made arrangements for the books to be delivered to Hong Kong direct from Spain. So I got my copy without even having to budge from my seat in class! I'm so grateful to her. Since I got a little time, I did another one of Yu Guangzhong's poems.
It just so happen that fellow blogger Michelle Chi has just posted another one of her videos cum poetry set to music in which a sunset figures at its conclusion. And yesterday, I posed a question on what is love and another fellow blogger SuperBrother posted numerous answers in his blog. I'm so lucky! Somehow, the gods must like me!
魔鏡 The Magic Mirror
落日的迴光，夢的倒影 Dying rays of sunset, reflections of dreams
掛得最高的一面魔鏡 The highest magic mirror ever hung
高過全世界的塔尖和屋頂 higher than the tips of all towers and roofs of the world
高過所有的高窗和窗口的遠愁 higher than the distant sorrows of all tall windows and its opening
而淡金或是幻銀的流光 and the fleeting glow of light gold or magical silver
卻温柔地俯下身來 bowing down softly
安慰一切的仰望 soothing all hopes
就連最低處的臉龐 even of the lowliest faces
高不可觸，那一面魔鏡 Unreachabably high, the magic mirror
掛在最近神話的絕頂 hangs upon the summit closest to myths
害得所有的情人 forcing lovers
都舉起寂莫的眼睛 to lift their lonely eyes
向著同一個空空的鏡面 towards the same surface of the mirror all bare
尋找各自渴望的容顏 each seeking the faces they thirst after
不管是一夜或是一千年 for a night or a thousand years
空鏡面上什麽都不見 nothing appears on the surface of that mirror all bare
除了隱約的雀斑點點 But for the specks of half hidden freckles
和清輝轉動淡金或幻銀 and the clear light churning light gold or magical silver
卻阻擋不了可憐的情人 nothing can stop the poor lovers
依然痴痴向魔鏡 from doting on the magic mirror
尋找假面具後的容顏 seeking faces behind the masks
從中秋找得元夜，就像今宵 from Mid-Autumn Fesitval to the Festival night of the first full moon, as tonight
對似真似幻的月色 facing the moonlight now real now irrreal
苦尋你鏡中的絕色 seeking the perfect beauty in your mirror in zeal..
To the poet, the moon is a magic mirror. It is empty and bare perhaps even vacuous. But since it is empty and bare, it can be the vessel of the dreams of all lovers from the mid-autumn festival to the mid-month festival of the first full month of the Chinese lunar calendar. All lovers long to see the faces of their beloved under the moon. In China, the moon is the abode of the Lady Sheung. The empty mirror may also be the poet's symbol for the illusion which lovers endlessly project on to the void of the universe. There, he highlights for us, not the empty moon hanging high in the empty sky, but the ultimate emptiness or illusions of all lovers. Yet as I say repeatedly to my friends, all human beings are experts in one thing. They are all specialist in fooling themselves in finding things where there are none: they are all dreamers. They dream of love!
Thank you for your today's sharing! This is a beautiful poem - both in its original Chinese version and your translated English version. The moon is a symbol of beauty and from our childhood, we've been told fairy tales about the moon. Hence, apart from its beauty, the moon is also mysterious and the object of our fancies and imagination.
回覆刪除Dreaming is a projection of our wishes deep inside our subconscious mind. It does not matter whether our dreams will come true or not. People enjoy dreaming (including day dreaming ) anyway and perhaps some of the dreams will come true. So, don't give up dreaming although in the course of it, we may seem like fools to others!
[版主回覆11/26/2010 19:48:00]Your're right. There is a sense in which we "are" our dreams! When we cease to dream, we know that it's time to go!
"Mirror of love, river of dreams, Of reflections of our inner most desires of how love should be, Love from the deepest of our hearts, River of love imaginations, Of romance and glories and medals of great love, Dreams of love ventures through time and space..." Good evening, my dear old friend !
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/26/2010 19:52:00]Right you are! Dreams and love are twin sisters. You seldom find one without the other! Maybe the river of love plunges into the mirror!
Yes, that's why so many poems have been written for the moon and so few for the sun. Maybe the moon, ever so serene so soft, also reminds us of the tenderness of mothers.
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/27/2010 09:43:00]The moon is bright, changes phases with the time of the month, never rejects anyone and accepts all: just like a mother should be.