整理公公的相片時, 看到一張已經發黃的日文影印 "青春之詩", 老爸看了後覺得寫得很有道理, 一時興來, 就把崗田義夫翻的日文再翻成中文. 和大家分享~ 因為原作者名是用日文拼音, 所以我只知道發音像是"Samuel Woolman", 可是在Google搜尋就是找不到原作者大名正確拼法. 鍥而不捨的二弟繼續用"崗田義夫 青春" 搜尋. 在一堆看不懂的日文網站中竟然看到了原作者的英文名字 "Samuel Ullman", 再搜尋才找到這位原作者.
他是阿拉巴馬州的歷史人物. 他寫"青春Youth" 時都已經七十多歲了(1840 - 1924).
原來麥克亞瑟將軍在東京的辦公室牆上就掛了這首散文詩, 麥帥的演講中也常常引用"青春"裡的句子, 因此, 這首"青春" 在日本比在美國更流行, 也進而鼓舞了日人二次大戰後重建.
http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec31det.html
日譯:崗田義夫
http://jalk.sakura.ne.jp/photo_s_aki/machi-1/seishun.htm
青春 中譯(根據日譯): 彭爸
青春並非指人生的某一段落,是說心中的意境。
優越的創造力, 堅毅的鬥志, 高炎的熱情, 不畏怯懦的勇猛心, 捨棄安逸要有冒險精神, 這稱為青春。
累積年齡的人並不會老,而是失去理想始會老。
歲月的增加只會添上皮膚的縐紋,但失去熱情時精神會萎蘼、苦悶、孤疑、不安、恐怖、失望……等,將長年累月催人老,使具有精氣的靈魂終歸成為草芥。
不管年歲是七十或十六,胸中抱持的是什麼?是驚異的愛慕心,空中閃爍的星辰,就如輝煌的事物或對思想的欽仰;是剛毅處事的挑戰,如小孩永不止息的探求心,獲得人生的歡喜與興趣。
人與信念一起年輕,和疑惑共老。
人與自信一起年輕,和恐怖共老。
有無窮的希望就年輕,和失望共老朽。
由大地、神、人、美和喜悅、壯大的勇氣,加承受偉力的靈感,人不會失去年輕。
斷絕了這些靈感,悲歎的白雪,將覆蓋人心的深處,不幸至厚冰固封時,此刻人已全老,只能乞求神的哀憐外別無他法。
Youth 原文作者: Samuel Ullman
http://www.prmvr.otsu.shiga.jp/library/master/SamuelUllman/Youth.html
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind;
it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;
it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;
it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of
the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease.
This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty.
Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.
We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder,
the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living.
In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station;
so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer,
courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism
and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty,
but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism,
there is hope you may die young at eighty.