橡樹與紅杉
橡樹與紅杉的對話
今天是羅伯特伯恩斯的生日。偉大的蘇格蘭詩人。
My Heart's In The
1789
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell to the mountains, high-cover'd with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the
沒有單純美好的心靈，可能要寫出他筆下的那些詩句非常地不可能。
一直隻追尋美好事物的軌跡，恐怕也是不容易發生。
生活的種種考驗，金錢的誘惑，善良被人濫用和欺騙，遇到在不是其祖國和家鄉的地方大肆以欺騙和利用達成自己的手段不管犧牲任何認識和不認識的人，為了金錢和地位，學曆和移民身份等等，自己欠缺能力，就利用完全無恥的手段達成目的的人，其實並不少見。
回到那些美好的境界吧。
想想那些從來沒有什麽欺騙的朋友們，想想那些給自己帶來笑容和愉快心情的朋友們，想想那些美好的事情吧。
那年在初次到格拉斯哥的一個清晨，找不到方向，那個匆匆路過的女士，停下自己的腳步跑出大約上百米，專門帶著走過幾個街口。。
那年在Ｏｍａｈａ， Ｎｅｂｒａｓｃａ，本來素不相識的夏教授帶著親切的笑容問我們這些到處走慣了的‘慣犯’，‘需不需要幫忙’？
想想那時巴黎的一個乞丐，在五月陽光燦爛的下午走到麵前，可能看我坐在路邊地上半天了又帶著流浪者一樣的行李包，他站到麵前，在衣服口袋裏摸出幾個歐元放到我的包上麵，我想起他其實才是真的需要錢。。解釋了一番，當然沒有收，他泰然離開，留下我滿心的感激一直到現在。
想起那個滿身都是泥巴和刷牆灰的意大利小夥子，在佛羅倫薩附近哪個小鎮的一個偏僻的火車站費勁地用意大利語給我們幾個日本，特涅尼達和多巴哥，菲律賓還有其他幾個地方來的人說去威尼斯的方向。。。笑容特別憨厚可愛。
回到那些美好的軌道吧。
再讀一讀伯恩斯吧，關於友誼，關於蘇格蘭，關於愛和被愛，關於那些美好和力量的。。。
多一些從容，多一些力量，多一些笑容，多一些感恩。
My Bonie Bell
1791
The smiling Spring comes in rejoicing,
And surly Winter grimly flies;
Now crystal clear are the falling waters,
And bonie blue are the sunny skies.
Fresh o'er the mountains breaks forth the morning,
The ev'ning gilds the ocean's swell;
All creatures joy in the sun's returning,
And I rejoice in my bonie
The yellow Autumn presses near;
Then in his turn comes gloomy Winter,
Till smiling Spring again appear:
Thus seasons dancing, life advancing,
Old Time and Nature their changes tell;
But never ranging, still unchanging,
I adore my bonie Bell.
A Red, Red Rose
1794
O, my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve's like a melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
As fair as thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will love thess till, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run:
And fare thee well, my only luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho' it ware ten thousand mile
Also (ZT):
Robert Burns, a poor man, an educated man, and a ladies’ man, is representative of Scotland, much like whisky, haggis, bagpipes, and kilts. He lived a life shortened by rheumatic heart disease, 1759-1796, but his life journey through poverty, informal education, disappointed love, nationalism, and literary and financial success can be identified by all Scots and common men the world over. He has become almost a national symbol of all things Scottish. His life is like a love story with a happy ending.
The Poet, Robert Burns
Robert Burns’s family raised seven children on sparse, rented farmland on the west coast of Scotland. The family cottage still stands as a proud tourist attraction. The family farm was not successful and the family moved from farm to farm. Life on the farm in western Scotland was harsh and Robert worked long hours with his father.
Burn’s father recognized the value of education and he managed to hire a local teacher to tutor Robert. He was an extremely bright student, mastering Shakespeare, current poets, French, Latin, philosophy, politics, geography, theology, and mathematics. His father read the Bible during the evenings around the cottage fireplace and Robert became an expert on the Bible and a devout Church member.
Robert Burns wrote his first poem at age 15. The poem was called “Handsome Nell” and was about his first love for a girl named Nellie Blair. Throughout his life, Burns was a charming and witty man, attracting the attention of numerous women. A dozen or more women can be identified as the inspiration for various poems. Burns wrote many famous love poems, including “A Red, Red Rose” and “One Fond Kiss.”
Here’s an excerpt from “Handsome Nell.”
“O once I loved a bonnie lass,
Aye, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
I’ll love my handsome Nell.”
Burns, in a later comment on this poem, stated that he had “never had the least thought or inclination of turning poet till I got once heartily in love, and then rhyme and song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart.”
The Turning Point
In 1786, at age 27, Robert Burns went through a major turning point in his life. He suffered a disappointing love affair with Jean Armour, who was pregnant with his twin sons. The local community and Armour’s father were outraged by the affair and her father rejected Burns’s offer of marriage.
Dejected and depressed, Burns made plans to leave Scotland and sail to Jamaica in the West Indies. To finance the trip, Burns submitted a volume of his poetry for publication.
The publication of 612 copies in a simple, unbound volume was called “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect,” also sometimes known as “The Kilmarnock Edition.” The poems were well received in Edinburgh by socialites who were enchanted by the poems and amazed that a poor farmer could write so well.
So, instead of planning his escape to a new world, Burns planned a trip to Edinburgh. His confident manner, ingratiating style, and his obvious wit and intelligence brought Burns popularity and admiration. Soon, a second publication of his work was executed in Edinburgh.
The Growing Popularity
During his stay in Edinburgh, Robert Burns met printer James Johnson, who planned a project to print all of the folk songs in Scotland. This project enthralled Burns and embarked upon a journey throughout Scotland to collect as many folk songs as possible. Burns collected over 300 songs and wrote a few himself, including “A Red, Red Rose.”
One of the results of his travels throughout Scotland was that Robert Burns ingratiated himself to everyone he met and he rose to national prominence and popularity.
The collected songs were published by Johnson in six volumes and by George Thomson in a five volume set.
Another happy outcome of this turning point in Robert Burns’s life is that he was able to return home and marry his beloved Jean Armour, now with the blessing of her family.
Robert Burns continued to collect and write songs for The Scots Musical Museum, an anthology of traditional Scottish lyrical poems, until his untimely death from rheumatic heart disease in 1796.
Within a few years of his death groups of Robert Burns’s friends and fans gathered to promote his memory and to celebrate his life. By 1801, five years after his death, groups met on the anniversary of his death, but later they began to meet on the anniversary of his birth, January 25. Now there are many Burns clubs and societies who celebrate his memory with dinners, including haggis, and readings of his works.
“A Red, Red Rose” is written as a ballad with four stanzas of four lines each. Each stanza has alternating lines of four beats, or iambs, and three beats. The first and third lines have four iambs, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in da-dah, da-dah, da-dah, da-dah. The second and fourth lines consist of three iambs. This form of verse is well adapted for singing or recitation and originated in the days when poetry existed in verbal rather than written form.
