Hi everybody. Let's talk about Literature? What's your favorite poem? One of my favorite poems is "Soneto de Fidelidade" by Vinicius de Moraes who is a Brazilian poet. I'll write down the English version of this poem.
Sonnet of Fidelity
Vinicius de Moraes
Above all, to my love I'll be attentive
First and always, with care and so much
that even when facing the greatest enchantment
By love be more enchanted my thoughts.
I want to live it though in each vain moment
And in its honor I'll spread my song
And laugh my laugher and cry my tears
When you are sad or when you are content.
And thus, when later comes looking for me
Who knows, the death, the anxiety of the living
Who knows, the loneliness, end of all lovers
I'll be able to say to myself of the love (I had):
But be infinitive while it lasts.
At Last the Secret Is Out
At last the secret is out, as it always must come in the end,
The delicious story is ripe to tell to the intimate friend;
Over the tea-cups and in the square the tongue has its desire;
Still waters run deep, my dear, there's never smoke without fire.
Behind the corpse in the reservoir, behind the ghost on the links,
Behind the lady who dances and the man who madly drinks,
Under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh
There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye.
For the clear voice suddenly singing, high up in the convent wall,
The scent of the elder bushes, the sporting prints in the hall,
The croquet matches in summer, the handshake, the cough, the kiss,
There is always a wicked secret, a private reason for this.
by <a href="http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/author.php?auth_id=1595">W. H. Auden</a>
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - Eugeny Onegin.
I like it even more now and didn;t understand when I should have read it at school.
Style, humour, life - everything in one.
To tell the honest truth, my favorite poems are actually song lyrics. I'm less afraid to say that now that Bob Dylan (U.S. singer-songwriter of the "folk revival" era) has won the Nobel Prize in literature!
It's hard for me to pick out a favorite song lyric, I have hundreds... I'll mention two.
"How Deep is the Ocean?" (Irving Berlin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHW08p1t4jE
How much do I love you?
I'll tell you no lie
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?
How many times a day do I think of you?
How many roses are sprinkled with dew?
How far would I travel
To be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?
And if I ever lost you
How much would I cry?
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?
"More I Cannot Wish You" (Frank Loesser) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaHoOgT9vfk
Velvet, I can wish you,
For the collar of your coat,
And fortune smiling all along your way;
But more I cannot wish you
Than to wish you find your love--
Your own true love--this day;
Mansions, I can wish you,
Seven footmen all in red,
And calling cards upon a silver tray;
But more I cannot wish you
Than to wish you find your love--
Your own true love--this day:
Standing there, gazing at you, full of the bloom of youth;
Standing there, gazing at you--with a sheep's eye, and a lickerish tooth
Music, I can wish you--
Merry music while you're young--
And wisdom, when your hair has turned to gray;
But more I cannot wish you
Than to wish you find your love--
Your own true love--this day...
With a sheeps' eye... And a lickerish tooth...
And the strong arms
To carry you away.
作者:舒婷 By Shu Ting
我如果爱你—— If I love you --
绝不像攀援的凌霄花 I will never be a clinging trumpet creeper
借你的高枝炫耀自己 Using your high boughs to show off my height
我如果爱你—— If I love you --
绝不学痴情的鸟儿 I will never be a spoony bird
为绿荫重复单调的歌曲 Repeating a monotonous song for green shade
也不止像泉源 Or be a spring
常年送来清凉的慰藉 Bringing cool solace all year long
也不止像险峰 Or be a steep peak
增加你的高度,衬托你的威仪 Increasing your stature, reflecting your eminence
甚至日光 Even the sunlight
甚至春雨 Even the spring rain
不,这些都还不够 No, all these are not enough
我必须是你近旁的一株木棉 I must be a ceiba tree beside you
作为树的形象和你站在一起 Be the image of a tree standing together with you
根,紧握在地下 Our roots, entwined underground
叶,相触在云里 Our leaves, touching in the clouds
每一阵风过 With each gust of wind
我们都互相致意 We greet each other
但没有人 But nobody
听懂我们的言语 Can understand our words
你有你的铜枝铁干 You'll have your copper branches and iron trunk
像刀、像剑,也像戟 Like knives, like swords, like halberds, too
我有我的红硕花朵 I'll have my crimson flowers
像沉重的叹息 Like heavy sighs
又像英勇的火炬 And valiant torches
我们分担寒潮、风雷、霹雳 We'll share cold spells, storms and thunder
我们共享雾霭、流岚、虹霓 We'll share mists, hazes and rainbows
仿佛永远分离 Seemingly always apart
却又终身相依 But also forever interdependent
这才是伟大的爱情 Only this can be great love
坚贞就在这里 The loyalty is here
爱—— Love --
不仅爱你伟岸的身躯 I love not only your strapping stature
也爱你坚持的位置,足下的土地 But also your firm stand, the earth beneath you
CRANES
I sometimes think that riders brave,
Who met their death in bloody fight,
Were never buried in a grave
But rose as cranes with plumage white.
And ever since until this day
They pass high overhead and call.
Is that not why we often gaze
In solemn silence at them all?
In far-off foreign lands I see
The cranes in evening’s dying glow
Fly quickly past in company,
As men on horseback used to go.
And, as they fly far out of reach,
I hear them calling someone’s name.
Is that why sounds in Avar speech
Recall the clamour of a crane?
Across the weary sky they race,
Who friend and kinsman used to be,
And in their ranks I see a space—
Perhaps they’re keeping it for me?
One day I’ll join the flock of cranes,
With them I shall go winging, by
And you, who here on earth remain,
Will hear my loud and strident cry.