在這個“顏值即正義”的時代, 青春似乎隻在於姣妍的容貌, 婀娜的身姿, 優美的體態, 看到Samuel Ullman 的這首詩, 讓我這無美貌可靠, 青春亦欠奉的中年人頗感安慰, 繼而深受鼓舞。 忍不住翻譯以明(自)誌(欺)。
Youth
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 boy 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.
致青春
青春不在韶華幾許, 而在心境澄明;無關嬌顏,紅唇,柔膝,而關乎昂揚奮發的意誌,恣意弛騁的想象,灼熱熾烈的情感;是盎然英發的勃勃生機。
青春是氣逾霄漢,勇氣戰勝怯懦,冒險超越安逸。此等奮勇,花甲翁亦不讓少年郎。誌存,老當益壯;誌衰,暮氣沉沉。
歲月荏苒或揉皺嫩膚,激情湮滅磨折了靈魂。憂怖自疑讓心靈扭曲,讓神魄化塵。
無論是六旬樂齡還是二八年華,都當持好奇之心,執赤子之求,享生活之樂。你我心中皆有一方天地,藴蓄美麗,希望,歡欣,勇氣,力量,以葆青春永駐。
當氣韻低沉,犬儒避世,心灰意冷,芳齡亦凝成鬢間冷霜;如若氣勢常弘,笑顏麵對,烈士暮年,亦不畏耄耋之年。