Poems.
Had an extremely amusing conversation with Tk yesterday. Anyway, I prefer these kinds of poems... They are very commonly known, not original, but are certainly nice... (and certainly they do not contain any eyes.)(The links will bring you to sites that help explain the poems.)
(And since even GCS tells me that he doesn't understand the Chinese that I post here, I have decided to translate whatever I can... It is really sad that someone who can write so well in Chinese in secondary school have to ask me to explain stuff to him and help him do translation now...)
離思
(唐)元稹
曾經滄海難為水，除卻巫山不是雲。
取次花叢懶迴顧，半緣修道半緣君。
(Literal Translation: If one has experienced the ocean, it will be difficult to like any other forms of water; if one has seen clouds from Wu Shan, no other forms of clouds will please him. I am too lazy and unwilling to look around even when I am amidst a flower garden; that is partially because I am cleansing my soul and partially because of you.)
(Happy? :D)
Classical Chinese poems are better than contemporary ones in terms of subtlety and meaning, and often more intense in terms of feeling. Read all the 李清照 ones; those are really to the extreme. For contemporary Chinese poems only very talented people can produce good ones. For example:
再別康橋
徐志摩
(I have posted this before (not full text); follow the link above for full text and an English translation, which is a rather good one.)
偶然
徐志摩
我是天空裡的一片雲，
偶爾投影在你的波心──
你不必訝異，更無須歡喜──
在轉瞬間消滅了蹤影。
你我相逢在黑夜的海上，
你有你的，我有我的，方向；
你記得也好，
最好你忘掉，
在這交會時互放的光亮！
(This one, I guess, no need to translate? It is not even in classical Chinese...)
I don't know much about English poems; though if I come across ones that are nice I will like them too. Tell me if anyone has any to recommend :)
Labels: Random, Relationships
