林中斌 部落格 / Blog Chong-Pin Lin

Salon de Lin

June 13, 2020

accessed June 16, 2020

五位非專業朋友，在兩小時內，面對全然陌生的英國歌曲，成功搭配四部合唱。真是一大樂事！請容在下與諸位分享。

■Attempting to sing a four-part chorus "Drink to me Only with Thine Eyes", lyric by Ben Johnson (June 11, 1572 -- August 6, 1637) with music composed anonymously later.

■The lyric poem follows/ 名詩歌詞如下：

"Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine;

如果您只用眼神與我飲酒，我許諾依樣回敬；

Or leave a kiss within the cup, And I'll not ask for wine;

或許您在我杯中留下親吻，我將再無趣飲酒；

The thirst that from the soul doth rise, Doth as a drink divine;

我靈魂會湧出渴望，想嚐天界佳釀；

But might I of Jove's nectar sip, I would not change for thine."

天帝也許賜我吸吮一口瓊漿作為條件，我卻不願以您所贈作為交換。

林中斌 試譯 2020.6.15

★Our gathering happened to be two days after Ben Johnson's 363 birthday anniversary.

★He was the second most famous English playwright and poet after William Shakespear in that period. His poems though seemingly indirect and subtle in our age were categorized as "cavalier" in his time.

他是當代僅次於沙士比亞最重要的文學家。他的詩，相對今日口味來說，顯得含蓄和昇華。但是當時是屬於像騎士般的"豪情" 派。

★He was a brilliant poet and an impressive soldier, jailed for being in a play as an actor, almost hanged for killing another actor in a duel, and was involved in political power schemes.

他是詩人、演員、劇作家、也是軍人，被關進監牢過，幾乎被吊死因為殺死另與他決鬥的演員，參與政治被懷疑謀反。