July 31, 2011

My dearest,

You spend hour after hour singing this song, with so much verve and simple joy, that you have me curious. What is this song? Why do you sing it, and sing it with such regularity and repetition?

This song? you ask me in return. Yes, this song.

It’s called ‘Love Song’, naturally. What other song would you sing, indeed. And while my voice is too weak and meagre to join you in the chorus, I share in your delight by offering my own mild-mannered translation, my meek and sincere attempts to understand:

 
時光是琥珀 淚一滴滴被反鎖
情書再不朽 也磨成沙漏
青春的上游 白雲飛走蒼狗與海鷗
閃過的念頭 潺潺的溜走

What is time but drops of tears locked in amber gold
Love letters ground to dust by the sands of the hourglass
Our younger days shift like clouds, impossible to hold
Hopes that we’ve had trickle away, then gone, then passed.

 
命運好幽默 讓愛的人都沉默
一整個宇宙 換一顆紅豆
回憶如困獸 寂寞太久而漸漸溫柔
放開了拳頭 反而更自由

What strange humour Fate has, leaves lovers lost for words
“Would you exchange the whole universe for a seed of love?”
Memory a caged beast tamed by loneliness into a wingless bird
Release the fist and set yourself free as you would a dove.

 
My translation of Fish Leong’s ballad is awkward at best but it doesn’t matter.

You keep singing. I keep smiling.

Love songs, some are sappy, some are old. Some are infatuations kept close to the breast, some are epics bright and bold. Does it matter who is singing and who is sung to, so long as the love song keeps going, between me and you?

Yours, ever and always.