Tuesday, October 20, 2009

叠叠思 (Layers of Thoughts)

A friend of mine wrote a poem.

悄然回首,锦瑟华年谁与度,数秋逍遥梦,斩尽千丝愁;
还此世,千生随,对影形单望相护,秋雾凉风冬雾雪,只羡鸳鸯不羡仙。

For the benefit of those who can't understand or read Chinese, here's the translation:

Looking back,
I wonder who had you spent your youth with,
You had been alone for the past few years,
So now please forget about the worries from the past;
At this moment,
I will follow you for the rest of our lives,
We will be there for each other and take care of each other,
Spring will past and so will winter,
Envying the lovers and not the fairies. The lovers are more to be regard with envy than the fairies.

Oh my God, my terrible terrible translation... Please understand that I've tried my best, especially the last line, as I myself don't hundred percent understand the poem. And to the anonymous author*, please don't kill me...

As far as my understanding goes, basically the poem is about this guy telling his beloved that she should forget about the worries and unhappiness from her past. He understands that she had been alone and unhappy. But now, she has him. He's promising her that they'll be together forever. And they'll look out for each other, for years and years to come. So why would they want to be fairies** when they have each other to spend the rest of their lives with?

It's amazing how a few Chinese words can create a beautiful picture. Its  meaning is only limited to one's imagination.

Notes:
*The author of this poem wishes to remain anonymous.
**In Chinese belief, the fairies live... erm... luxuriously, carefree and they're immortal.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful.

MODERN ROBINSON CRUSOE said...

Yeap this is nice - Thx for sharing :)

thE gEOgrAphicAlly blind said...

i like it too =)

confessions of a medical student said...

i think if i could read chinese... it must have been even better...

who wrote this? mr chin??? ehhehe...

MODERN ROBINSON CRUSOE said...

U see shin loo..shin yin can say that?? LOL...OK ok

thE gEOgrAphicAlly blind said...

author is anonymous...