Xu Zhimo's Giving 徐志摩的『給』

It is said that Xu Zhimo is a romantic poet. If so, he is romantic not only in what he writes about, he probably is romantic in his living style. We may get an inkling from the following poem which I just read. It's called "Giving". I suppose what he gives is his attention to or his love of ladies. Here it is, with my translation.

 

              給                                    Giving

我記不得維也納，                I can't remember Vienna, 

  除了你，阿麗思；                Aside you, Alice;

我想不起佛蘭克府，            I can't recall Frankfurt,

  除了你，桃樂斯；                Aside you, Doris;

尼司，佛洛倫司，巴黎，    Nice, Florence, Paris,

  也都沒有意味，                    Are all meaningless,

要不是你們的艷麗，---      But for your beauty,--

  思玫，麥蒂特，臘妹，       Cimie, Matilda, Lamy,

  翩翩的，盈盈的                 Fleeting, Full,

  孜孜的，婷婷的                 Studious, Graceful

照亮着我記憶的幽黑，       Lighting up the ghostly murkiness of my memory

  像冬夜的明星，                   like stars of winter nights

  像暑夜的遊螢，---               like flickering fireflies of summer night

怎教我不傾頹！                   How could I not yield!

 

In this poem we get a list of some of the most romantic cities in Europe he had been to: Vienna, Nice, Florence and Paris. I can't agree more. Vienna has its magnificent palaces and opera house, its chocolate shops and open air cafes and its endless concerts by the best orchestra of the world. Nice has a beautiful harbor and beaches lined with pretty cafe-bars. Florence is built on the banks of the River Arno, high up in the mountains the two sides of which are joined by the famous Ponte Vecchio overlooking the river with a statue of the beautiful David near a park on one side , with lesiurely roadside cafes set amongst Medieval houses and terraces. Paris is one of the first cities in Europe with town planning with its famous Tour Eiffel, Moulin Rouge, Notre Dame Cathedral on the Ile de la Cité, Montmartre with its brasseries, roadside artists and the sound of the accordeon playing everywhere with singers singing with that kind of nasal accent and the rolling of the "r" from the throat peculiar to the French language with those pauses and abrupt speeding up of the rhythm of the melody which we can still hear in those surviving songs of Edith Piaf. 

Wherever the places are pretty, the atmosphere genial and fun, there we shall always find fashionable girls. And so it was for our poet. I don't how many girls he met. He just mentions five: Alice, Doris, Cimie, Matilda and Lamy. I'm afraid we'll have to let his biographer tell us who they were and how and where he met them and what exactly was his relationship with them. But whatever it was, I am quire sure it must be very pleasant and such as to leave a permanent memory in his mind. The poet says that they help to light up the ghostly murkiness of his memory. They are all different, some quick, others have impressive figures, still others are strike him as active and positive whilst still others are graceful in their demeanour. They light up his memory in both summer and winter. But whether summer or winter, there was only one thing he could do. He yielded to their very different charms. As he says, he "gave" generously of himself. I leave the reader 's imagination what or which part of himself he gave.