冬天來了,春天還會遠嗎?
其實這首膾炙人口的名句,來自19世紀英國浪漫派詩人波西‧雪萊(Percy Bysshe Shelley,1792年-1822年)的西風頌(Ode to the West Wind)。
雪萊被譽為歷史上最出色的英語詩人之一,卻英年早逝,在30歲搭船渡海時不幸溺死。
1819年寫的這首西風頌很長,共有五段章節,是以西風掃落葉來象徵革命力量掃蕩反動統治,詩篇最後一句: 如果冬天來了,春天還會遠嗎?( If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? ),表達了他對未來的革命充滿樂觀的預言。
不過因為太有名了,後來常常被拿來做為鼓舞人心振奮士氣的佳句。的確,黎明前總有黑暗;最壞的時候,總會有一天否極泰來,雖然不知道這段黑暗、困境會多久!
我非常喜歡西風頌的第四五章節,文句相當優美,念著它還真能提振元氣:
西風歌 (Ode to the West Wind)
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,
As then, when to outstrip the skiey speed
Scarce seemed a vision, I would ne'er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
O, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves, to quicken a new birth;
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
如果我是任妳吹的一片落葉;
如果我是隨妳飛翔的雲彩;
如果是波浪,在妳威力下急湍,
享受妳神力的推動,自由自在,
幾乎與妳一樣,啊,妳難制的力!
再不然,如果能回返童年時代,
常陪伴著妳在天空任意飄飛,
以為要比妳更神速也非幻想;
那我就不致處此窘迫的境地,
向妳苦苦求告:啊!快使我高揚,
像一片樹葉、一朵雲、一陣浪濤!
把我當作妳的琴,當作那樹叢,
縱使我的葉子凋落又何妨!
妳怒吼咆哮的雄渾交響樂中,
將有樹木和我的深沉歌唱,
我們將唱出秋聲,婉轉而憂愁。
精靈啊!讓我變成妳,猛烈、剛強!
把我死寂的思想驅散在宇宙,
像一片片的枯葉,以鼓舞新生;
請聽從我這個詩篇中的符咒,
把我的話傳播給全世界的人,
猶如從不滅的爐中吹出火花!
請向未醒的大地,借我的嘴唇,
像號角般吹出一聲聲預言吧!
如果冬天來了,春天還會遠嗎?
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