My mother was slowly killed, I think, … by years of trouble, and by my cynical frankness of conduct. When I looked on her face as she lay in her coffin — a face grey and wasted with cancer — I understood that I was looking on the face of a victim and I cursed the system which had made her a victim.
-James Joyce, 1904 aged 22, Letters II
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浮生千山路 The thousand mountain roads of this fleeting life:
浮生千山路
小溪春深處,萬千碧柳蔭,
不記來時路,心托明月,
誰家今夜扁舟子。長溝流月去,煙樹滿晴川,
獨立人無語,驀然回首,
紅塵猶有未歸人。[chorus]
春遲遲,燕子天涯,
草萋萋,少年人老,
水悠悠,繁華已過了,
人間咫尺千山路。小溪春深處,萬千碧柳蔭,
不記來時路,心托明月,
誰家今夜扁舟子。行到水窮處,坐看雲起時,
涼淨風恬,人間依舊,
細數浮生千萬緒。[chorus]
春遲遲,燕子天涯,
草萋萋,少年人老,
水悠悠,繁華已過了,
人間咫尺千山路。 x2
The thousand mountain roads of this fleeting lifeThe small stream at the deepest places during springtime, ten thousand jade willows give shade,
Forgetting the road whence I arrived on, placing my heart upon the full moon,
Whose house tonight a wanderer (prodigal son) still roams on his lonesome boat.The moon above flowing away upon this long creek below, the trees filling the misty slopes and (reflected in the) clear glassy river,
The lonesome man is wordless, abruptly turning his head back to look,
Fearing there is someone yet to return from the red dust of the world (worldly things/events/relationships).[chorus]
Spring late so late, the sky-realm of the swallows,
Grass lush so lush, the young man grows old,
The waters leisurely so leisurely (or sadly), the time of flourishing has passed,
The thousand mountain roads of man and world may just be of (may be measured in) feet and inches.The small stream at the deepest places during springtime, ten thousand jade willows give shade,
Fogetting the road whence I arrived on, placing my heart upon the full moon,
Whose house tonight a wanderer (prodigal son) still roams on his lonesome boat.Walking to where the waters are shallow (end), sitting down to watch the clouds rise,
A peaceful breeze cools and quietens, the world continues on,
Carefully counting the ten thousand threads of this fleeting life.[chorus]
Spring late so late, the sky-realm of the swallows,
Grass lush so lush, the young man grows old,
The waters leisurely so leisurely (or sadly), the time of flourishing has passed,
The thousand mountain roads of man and world may just be of (may be measured in) feet and inches. x2
A Taiwanese song from the 1970’s.
The character in the video above (from a recent Taiwanese drama set in the 70s), as a son and father, poignantly portraying the torn emotions of piety and yearning for a homeland and parents he can never return to (the pain for many chinese diaspora, but especially for the Taiwanese, so near yet so far, severed by nation-war-politics). And said the following words to his child: “树欲静而风不止,子欲养而亲不待”.
树欲静而风不止,子欲养而亲不待
Trees would like to be still and quiet,
Alas the winds never stop rushing at and assailing them.
Children would like to care for and wait upon their parents,
Alas they are no more.
[Origins of song lyrics below, soon.]
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Thus Spake Zarathustra
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[PiPP]
