Thank to a friend of mine for sending me two immotal pieces of 林徽因’s poem and the renderings thereof. I can’t write the same as she did, not a chance, I just can’t. All I can do is to admire her , not just because of her beauty, but of her flair and contribution; not least, of her patriotism.

She and her husband 梁思成, or even her uncle 林覺民 were all scions from big names which could shield them from any calamities, but they stuck to the principles that traditional Chinese intellectuals should adhere to.

She and her husband refused to stay at occupied Beijing when Sino-Japanese War broke out and fleed to Sichuan. The long-time malnutrition under the reduced circumstances and painstaking field investigation on Chinese architecture rapidly deteriorated her health.  After 1949, the couple once again refused to the "better arrangements" and insisted staying in the New China. Henceforth she even worked much harder, but her slim, feeble body was finally unable to withstand her bad health condition any longer. She
died in early 50′s just over 50.  What a pity!

When her son 梁從誡, an environmentalist, visited Taiwan several years ago, almost the same time that TV opera "人間四月天" was telecast, some stupid reporters asked him if the namesake poem was the one her mother had been trying to convey her emotion toward 徐志摩.  梁從誡 replied, "Absolutely not. The poem was written for me, for I, then a small baby in swaddling clothes, was her biggest comfort, bringing great sense of happiness to her like lovely April days."  Having checked the relative dates, I found 梁從誡 was probably right.  You know, the inspiration of a love poem doesn’t necessarily derive from a romance.  For example, the
classic "教我如何不想他" was created when the lyricist 劉半農 saw the
miserable treatment the Chinese indentured workers(coolies) received during/after World War One in Europe, thus made him think of "他", his likewise miserable motherland then–China.

情 願 林徽因 I WOULD BE A FALLEN LEAF (Trs. by 李珍)

我情願化成一片落葉， I would be a fallen leaf,
讓風吹雨打到處飄零； Drifting about in the rainy wind,

或流雲一朵，在澄藍天， Or be a floating cloud, in the sky blue,
和大地再沒有些牽連。 So to avoid any link with the ground.

但抱緊那傷心的標志， Holding tight to the heart shattered,
去觸遇沒著落的悵惘； To gather the hopeless affections in bygones

在黃昏，夜班，躡著腳走， In the dusk or at midnight, tiptoeing back,
全是空虛，再莫有溫柔； To this world of all void absurd and cold.

忘掉曾有這世界；有你； To forget the existence of such a worldand of you,
哀悼誰又曾有過愛戀； With the lament if we two ever loved.

落花似的落盡，忘了去 To forget the tears falling in showers like flowers.
這些個淚點裡的情緒。 And all my feeling in thee hiding.

到那天一切都不存留， That day no trace of mine would be left,
比一閃光，一息風更少痕跡， Not even a fleeting ray or a passing breath of wind.

你也要忘掉了我 And you too should forget there have been me, and
曾經在這世界里活過。 There has been such a world, in which I once lived.