Yu Guangzhong's "As Neighbor of the Sea" (余光中的『與海為鄰』)

The sea has always fascinated me by its vastness, its gentleness, its beauty, its power, its msyteries and its romances. What does Yu Guangzhong think? Let's find out from the poem "As the neighbor of the sea".

與海為鄰                        As neighbor of the sea

住在無盡藍的隔壁        Living at the side of the limitless blue 

卻無壁可隔                    But with no dividing walls

一無所有                        Having nothing

和擁有一切                    Holding everything

 

最豪爽的鄰居                Most generous neighbor

不論問他什麽                No matter what you ask him

總是答係                        He always says yes  

無比開濶的一臉            Incomparably wide face

盈盈笑意                        Full of smiles

 

脾氣呢當然                   His temper of course 

不會都那麽好               won't be that good

若是被風頂撞了          Were he crossed by the wind

也真會咆哮呢              He really knows how to growl

白沬滔滔                      Spilling white foams everywhere

 

絕壁、燈塔、長堤      Precipice, light tower, long causeway

一波波被他笞打         lashed by him one billow after another billow 

所有的船隻                  All vessels 

從舴艋到艨艟              From small boats to big battleships 

都拿來出氣                 were subject to the release of its pent up emotions

 

 

有誰比他                     Who is

更坦坦漡蕩的呢？      More open and free than him?

有誰又比他隱藏著       Who hides

更富的珍寶?                  More treasures？

更深的秘密？                Deeper secrets?

 

我不敢久看他                 I'm afraid to gaze at him too long

怕蠱魅的藍眸                 Fearing that the bewitching demon within his blue eyes

真的把靈魂勾去             Really might hook away my soul

化成一隻海鷗                 Turn it into a seagull

繞著他飛                         Circling him.

 

多詭詐的水平線啊        How slippery and sly the line of the horizon 

永遠找不到線頭            Never can one find its head

他就躲在那後面            He hides behind there

把落日、斷霞、黄昏星 Stealing one by one  

一一都盜走                     The setting sun, the broken twilight, the evening star.

 

西班牙沈船的金幣        I don't admire

或是合甫的珍珠            The gold coins of the sunken Spanish galleons

我都不羨慕                    Or the pearls of He Po

只求做他的一個            I wish only to be his

小小鄰居                        Little neighbor

只求他在岸邊能拾得   Asking him only to allow me to pick up

他留給我的                   the conch

一枚貝殼                       he saves for me.

 

好擱在枕邊                 so that I may place it beside my pillow

當作海神的名片         as the sea god's name card 

聽隱隱的人魚之歌    listening to the barely audible songs of the mermaids

或是擱在耳邊            or place it beside my ears

曖昧而悠遠                obscure yet far away.

          24.8.1985

To the poet, the sea is vast, blue, has nothing and everything,  generous and always answers to one's needs. full of smiles yet can lash out in fury. Behind its horizon the sun as well as small crafts and big battleships disappear. Within its depths are gold and pearls. But the poet does't want any of its jewels but only a conch so that he may listen to the song of the mermaids. The sea is not real. The sea that the poet longs for and wish to get close to is not the sea as it is, but the sea of his imagination: obscure, ambiguous, uncertain, puzzling and enigmatical. It is the space where his imagination may roam. He wishes to roam to those mysterious palaces where the mermaids sing!