Goytisolo's "Palabras para Julia" (Words for Julia) 哥迪堤蘇羅的《給朱莉亞的說話》

Spain has never been short of poets. One of its best known contemporary poets is José Agustín Goytisolo Gay. Born in 1928 Barcelona 1928, in a family of writers, his brother being Juan Goytisolo (n. 1931) and Luis Goytisolo (n. 1935), he's part of that group of writers called "The Generation of Fifties" which includes amongst its ranks such other authors as Ángel González, José Manuel Caballero Bonald, José Ángel Valente, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Alfonso Costafreda o Carlos Barral. He is famous for his lyrical poetry which pays great attention to the peculiarities of the Spanish language, full of sounds ending in "a"s and "o"s and "i"s and where words often have more than one meaning.

One of the his best loved poems is "Palabras para Julia" (words for Julia) (給朱莉亞的說話). In Spanish, the word "palabras" means literally "words" either articulated orally or in writing but also has the connotations of "words of advice" and "words from the heart" etc. I think that's the kind of meanings he intends in the poem "Palabras para Julia", which has been beautifully set to music by another very famous Spanish guitarist-singer Paco Ibàñez . "Julia" is the name of Goytisolo's mother, whom he witnessed killed by a francoist assassination in 1938, when he was still 10 years old, something which affected the young poet deeply, so much so that in memory of his mother, he named his own daughter after her: Julia. So the name "Julia" is fraught with feelings for the poet. Goytisolo died in March 1999.

PALABRAS PARA JULIA Tú no puedes volver atrás porque la vida ya te empuja como un aullido interminable. interminable. Hija mía es mejor vivir con la alegría de los hombres que llorar ante el muro ciego. Te sentirás acorralada te sentirás perdida o sola tal vez querrás no haber nacido no haber nacido Yo sé muy bien que te dirán que la vida no tiene objeto que es un asunto desgraciado. Entonces siempre acuérdate de lo que un día yo escribí pensando en ti  pensando en ti como ahora pienso. La vida es bella, ya verás como a pesar de los pesares tendrás amigos, tendrás amor. tendrás amigos Un hombre solo, una mujer así tomados, de uno en uno son como polvo, no son nada no son nada Pero yo cuando te hablo a ti cuando te escribo estas palabras pienso también en otra gente. Tu destino está en los demás tu futuro es tu propia vida tu dignidad es la de todos. Otros esperan que resistas que les ayude tu alegría que les ayude tu canción entre sus canciones. Entonces siempre acuérdate de lo que un día yo escribí pensando en ti pensando en ti como ahora pienso. Nunca te entregues ni te apartes junto al camino, nunca digas no puedo más y aquí me quedo. La vida es bella, tú verás como a pesar de los pesares tendrás amor, tendrás amigos. tendrás amor Por lo demás no hay elección y este mundo tal como es será todo tu patrimonio. Perdóname no sé decirte nada más pero tú comprende que yo aún estoy en el camino. Y siempre siempre acuérdate de lo que un día yo escribí pensado en ti pendado en ti como ahora pienso. José Agustín Goytisolo

給朱莉亞的說話 你不能回頭 因生命已把你推前 猶如一永不停止的吶喊 我的親生女兒，與男士 快樂地生活總比 在瞎眼牆壁前哭泣好 你會感到走投無路 你會感到迷惘或孤單 有時渴望從沒出生 從沒出生 我當然知道有人會對你說 生命並無目的 是某種不幸 你要永記 某天我曾寫了點東西給你 惦念著你  惦念著你 正如我現在惦念你一樣 生命是美麗的，你會發現 怎樣在各種負累中 你仍會找到朋友，找到愛 找到朋友 單獨一個男子漢，一個女子 就個別看，一個一個分開 就如塵埃般，是沒用的 是沒用的 但當我這樣對你說 當我寫這些字給你 我也想到其他人 你的命運在他人掌握中 你的前途是你自已的生命 你的自尊是所有人的自尊 別人等著你抗拒誘惑 使他們能助你快樂 他們能把你的歌曲 安放在他們的歌曲中 那你要永記 某天我曾寫了點東西給你 惦念著你  惦念著你 正如我現在惦念你一樣 你萬萬不能放棄，也不能偏離 正途，永不說 支撐不了而原地踏步 生命是美麗的，你會發現 怎樣在各種負累中 你仍會找到愛，找到朋友 找到愛 對其他人，沒有選擇 而這樣子的世畀 將是你所有的遺產 請請原諒我，我不懂 再多說但你應明白 我仍在走那路 而你永遠永遠記著 某天我曾寫了點東西給你 惦念著你  惦念著你 正如我現在惦念你一樣 荷西.奧古思定. 哥迪堤蘇羅 愛梭羅(El Zorro) 譯….

In arranging for the song, the order of the stanzas have been altered and the last line of some of the stanzas have been repeated.

A Yellow Rose (黃玫瑰)

Yellow Roses



Closer

closer still

Two hearts 



or one?

 A Yellow Rose

In a tangled lonely garden
Blooms a fragile yellow rose
Long neglected by its keeper
it struggles and it grows.

Finding strength in rays of sunlight
Dreaming life from gentle rains
Closing lightly in the darkness
Till touched by the sun again

Few observe its silent beauty
Yet its fragrance fills the day
Enticing smiles from passersby
Who stop along the way

Now ravaged by the storms of fall
Its beauty wanes and flies
And with the start of winter chill
It withers and it dies

Though unnoticed in its splendor
Unshielded from life's pain
Its very struggle through existence
Made its being not in vain.

By Midnighttouch

You Don't Believe (你不信)

William Blake (1757 – 1827) is a poet I like. He was an art engraver, copper plate etching artist, painter and print maker who did lots of Bible illustrations. He paints with light colours and flowing lines, long before Matisse. But above all, he is known as a poet. He longed for revolutionary changes and actually joined an abortive one. He was home taught and read widely on subjects which interested him. In his own way, he believed in the reality of the human body which he thought must be perfected with spirituality. In his own way, he was a deeply religious man who claimed to have visions of God, who appeared to man in the form of his imagination but was opposed to all forms of organized religion. I like his Songs and Innocence and Songs of Experience.

You Don’t Believe You don’t believe—I won’t attempt to make ye: You are asleep—I won’t attempt to wake ye. Sleep on! Sleep on! While in your pleasant dreams Of Reason you may drink of Life’s clear streams. Reason and Newton, they are quite two things; For so the swallow and the sparrow sings. Reasons says, “Miracle”; Newton says “Doubt.” Aye! That’s the way to make all Nature out. “Doubt, doubt, and don’t believe without experiment”: That is the very thing Jesus meant, When he said, “Only believe! believe and try! Try, try, and never mind the reason why!” William Blake

你不信 你不信--我不會令你 你睡著--我不會叫你 睡吧！睡吧！在你愉快的理性夢中 你會喝到生命的清溪。 理性與牛頓，是兩樣頗不同的東西； 因燕子及喜鵲是這樣唱的。 理性說：「奇蹟」；牛頓說：「質疑」。 是的！就這麼理解整個大自然。 「質疑，質疑，沒實驗不信」： 耶穌的意思剛好是這般 他說：「只用信！信和試！ 試試，不用理甚麼因由！」 威廉·布萊克  譯: 艾梳羅

Leonard Cohen's Suzanne 李歐納·柯恩的「蘇姍」

I like Leonard Cohen's songs. They're simple. In his songs, he often sings about people forgotten by society. And he sings about them with sensitivity, with understanding, with feeling. He is not only a song writer. He is also a poet. And he writes and sings like one. One of his songs I like best is "Suzanne". Here it is, with his beautiful lyrics and my translation of them.

Suzanne Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river You can hear the boats go by You can spend the night beside her And you know that she's half crazy But that's why you want to be there And she feeds you tea and oranges That come all the way from China And just when you mean to tell her That you have no love to give her Then she gets you on her wavelength And she lets the river answer That you've always been her lover And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind And you know that she will trust you For you've touched her perfect body with your mind. And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water And he spent a long time watching From his lonely wooden tower And when he knew for certain Only drowning men could see him He said "All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them" But he himself was broken Long before the sky would open Forsaken, almost human He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone And you want to travel with him And you want to travel blind And you think maybe you'll trust him For he's touched your perfect body with his mind. Now Suzanne takes your hand And she leads you to the river She is wearing rags and feathers From Salvation Army counters And the sun pours down like honey On our lady of the harbour And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers There are heroes in the seaweed There are children in the morning They are leaning out for love And they will lean that way forever while she holds the mirror..  Leonard Cohen

蘇姍 蘇珊帶你到她河邊那裡 你可聽到經過的小船 你可在她身旁度過晚上 而你知她是不大正常的 但那正是你想在她那裡的緣故 她給你茶和橘子吃喝 從老遠的中國來的 當你剛要跟她說 你沒有愛情給她 她就進入你的波長 她讓河流回應你 說你一直是她的愛侶 你很想與她同行 你很想閉著眼睛與她同行 你知道她會信你的 因你以你的思想觸及她完美的軀體 當他在水上行走時 耶穌也是海員 他在那孤零零的木塔 觀察了好一會 當他肯定知道 只有遇溺者能看見他時 他便說：「在海洋給他們自由前 男的統統要當海員」 但遠在天空倘未為他開敞前 他已倒下 被遺棄，幾乎與人一樣 在你智慧下他如石般下沉 而你想與他同行 想閉著眼睛與他同行 而你想也許你會信他 因他以他的思想觸及你完美的軀體 蘇姍現在攜著你手 她帶你到河邊 她穿著破衣和羽毛 從救世軍櫃面弄回來的 太陽像蜜糖般瀉下 海港之母身上 她教你在垃圾和花中 在那兒尋覓 在海藻中有英雄 早上有兒童 他們都為情而把身體傾斜 他們都會那樣把身體稈斜直到永遠當她拿起鏡子...   (譯: 艾索羅)

To Johannes Brahms (致若翰內斯. 勃拉姆斯)

Finally, I can breathe a sigh of relief. At least for the moment, before my next course in Spanish begins in a month or so's time. Nothing can describe the lightness in my heart as I stepped out of the classroom, bantering with my classmates still awaiting their turn for the obligatory oral after finishing the written. I could go back to reading poetry now. I did just that. One of the poets I like is an almost blind Argentinian who never won the Nobel prize in literature,some say, because of his conservative political views. He's Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges (24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986), a short-story writer, essayist, translator and poet who was anti-Peron but pro-Pinochet, born and dying in Buenos Aires, the capital of .Argentina and its head librarian.

A Johannes Brahms

Jo, que soy un intruso
en los jardines

Que has prodigado a la
plural memoria

Del porvenir, quise
cantar la gloria

Que hacia el azul erigen
tus violines.

He desistido ahora. Para
honrarte

No basta esa miseria que
la gente

Suele apodar con
vacuidad el arte.

Quien te horare ha de
ser claro y valiente.

Soy un cobarde. Soy un
triste. Nada

Podrá justificar esta
osadia

De cantar la magnifica
alegria

--Fuego y cristal—de tu
alma enramorada.

Mi servidumbre es la
palabra impura,

Vástago de un concepto y
de un sonido;

Ni simbolo, ni espejo,
ni gemido,

Tuyo es el rio que huye
y que perdura.

Jorge F. I. L. Borges

 

To Johannes Brahms I, an intruder in the gardens Who has wasted plural memories To come, would like to sing the glory                                                   That towards the blue your violins build. I’ve stopped insisting now. To honor thee. No enough of this misery which people Hollowly nickname Art. I’m a coward. I’m a sorrow. Nothing Would justify such daring. To sing the great happiness --Fire and crystal—of your soul in love.                  He who would honor you have to be bright and brave My slavery is the impure word. Offshoot of concept and sound. Neither symbol nor mirror nor moan, Yours is the river that flows and lives on .                                                                                     (tr. El Zorro)

致若翰內斯. 勃拉姆斯 我，多個花園的侵擾者 揮霍了多少來日 回憶，多渴望歌訟你 小提琴向藍天築成的榮耀。 現不再堅持。為向你致敬。 人們習慣空洞地 給藝術添小名，夠苦了。 我是懦夫。我是悲苦。沒有 什麼可支撐這無理的大膽 歌訟你愛中靈魂 --火與水晶--的極樂。 祟敬你者必得靈巧與勇猛。                  我只能以不潔的文字服役。 概念與聲的枝椏。 非象徵非鏡亦非呻吟 你則以那流動永生的河川。 (譯: 艾索羅)

Robert Herrick's "To His Mistress"

      To His Mistress

 Help me! help me! now I call
 To my pretty witchcrafts all;
 Old I am, and cannot do
 That I was accustomed to do.
 Bring your magics, spells, and charms,
 To enflesh my thighs and arms;
  Is there no way to beget
  In my limbs their former heat?
  Aesop had, as poets fain,
  Baths that made him young again:
  Find that medicine, if you can,
  For your dry, decrepit man
  Who would fain his strength renew
  Were it but to pleasure you.

  Robert Herrick

 According to A. C. Swinburne, Robert Herrick  (1591-1674), was "The greatest song-writer ever born of English race.”. Son of a goldsmith and himself also one, he graduated with a BA in Cambridge in 1617, an MA in 1620 and became the the eldest of the so-called "Sons of Ben", cavalier poets who idolized Ben Jonson. He became an Episcopal minister in 1623 and acted as chaplain to Buckingham on the expedition to the Île de Ré and in 1629 was appointed by Charles I to the living of Dean Prior in the diocese of Exeter, a post he reluctantly accepted. There, in Devon, he lived in the seclusion of country life, and wrote some of his best work, never completely ceasing, however, to long for the pleasures of London. In 1648 Herrick published his major collection, Hesperides, consisting of 1200 poems. He died a bachelor at the age of 83. .

J L Borges' El Mar (The Sea) 博爾赫斯 的《海洋》

El Mar    The Sea

Antes que el sueño (o el terror) tejiera     Before dream (or terror) wove
Mitologías y comogonías,                            mythologies and cosmologies,
Antes que el tiempo se acuñara en días.     Before time is minted into days
El mar, el siempre mar, ya estaba y era,    The sea, ever the sea, already was.
Quién es el mar? Quién es aquel violento   Who is the sea? Who is that violent
Y antiguo ser que roe los pilares                 And ancient being that gnaws the pillars
De la tierra y es uno y muchos mares         Of the earth and is one and many seas
Y abismo y resplandor y azar y viento?      And abyss and splendor and chance and wind?
Quien lo mira lo ve por vez primera,          Who sees it, sees it for the first time,
Siempre. Con el asombro que las cosas      Always. With the wonder that things
Elementales dejan, las hermosas               Elemental leave behind, the beauties,
Tardes, la luna, el fuego de una hoguera.      The afternoon, the moon, the fire of a bonfire.
Quién es el mar, quién soy? Lo sabré el dia Who is the sea, who am I? I shall know the last day
Ulterior que sucede a la agonía.                    That follows agony

Jorge Luis Borges 1967                                trans... El Zorro

海洋

在夢想或恐怖編織
神話和宇宙前，
在時間被鑄成日子前
海洋, 永恆的海洋，巳在。
誰是海洋？那狂暴
恆古啃咬着大地
樁柱者，是一個是多個海洋
是深淵是燦爛奪目是無常是風？
誰望它永遠是第一趟望它
連同那驚嘆大自然力量遺下的美麗，
下午，月亮，野火的火焰。
誰是海洋，誰是我？在劇痛後
那終極的一天我將會知曉。

作者：豪爾赫·路易斯·博爾赫斯   譯者： 亞達梭羅

Jorge Luis Borges，1899年8月24日－1986年6月14日 ，阿根廷作家，詩人。他的作品涵蓋多個文學範疇，包括：短文、隨筆小品、詩、文學評論、翻譯文學。其中以拉丁文雋永的文字和深刻的哲理見長。。他的作品被廣泛譯介到歐美國家，他本人也是一位翻譯家，除母語西班牙語外，精通英語、德語、法語、古英語、古諾爾斯語等。1986年，他在瑞士日內瓦去世。1955年，他被任命為阿根廷國家公共圖書館館長以及布宜諾斯艾利斯大學的文學教授。他由於遺傳病，長時間視力幾近失明，年近六旬即雙目完全失明，但無損其創意

Evantail of Mademoiselle Mallarmé

Evantail de Mademoiselle Mallarmé     O reveuse, pour que je plonge    Au pur delice sans chemin,    Sache, par un subtil mensonge, Garder mon aile dans ta main.      Une fraicheur de crepuscule     Te vient a chaque battement   Dont le coup prisonnier recule    L'horizon delicatement. Vertige ! voici que frissonne   L'espace comme un grand baiser    Qui, fou de naitre pour personne, Ne peut jaillir ni s'apaiser.    Sens-tu le paradis farouche   Ainsi qu'un rire enseveli     Se couler du coin de ta bouche     Au fond de l'unanime pli !   Le sceptre des rivages roses    Stagnants sur les soirs d'or, ce l'est, Ce blanc vol ferme que tu poses    Contre le feu d'un bracelet.

Miss Mallarmé's Fan   O dreamer, that I might plunge Into the pathess pure delight Know, by a subtle lie how to keep my wing in your hand A dawn freshness comes to you with each beat wherewith the imprisoned blow pushes back delicately the horizon Vertigo! It's here that trembles Space like a big kiss which, mad to be born for no one Can neither fly nor keep still  You feel the paradise fierce such that from the corner of your mouth a veiled smile flows To the base of the unanimous fold  The scepter of the rosy shores Stagnant in the golden night, it's the east This white folded flight that you lay O'er the a bracelet's fire.

馬拉美小姐之扇  噢夢者，我欲躍下 那無門之純樂 你須懂如何以微妙之謊言 握我翼於你手 晨曦之清涼 隨你每一下跳動 將那被囚之拳 敏感地推開水平線   目眩！猶巨吻般 在空間顫震 這狂吻不為人而生 不能跳躍復不能靜下  你感到樂園之勇悍  從你咀角 一隱晦之笑容 流向那單一縐摺之底 那玫瑰河畔之權杖 滯在黄金夜內， 你放下在手鐲之火 這白色的傲翔，是東方