紀念余光中：故人西歸，鄉(xiāng)愁猶存

In Chinese poet Yu Guangzhong’s poem Nostalgia, he describes his memory for his late mother as a grave, which separates them into two different worlds:

在中國詩人余光中的詩歌《鄉(xiāng)愁》中，他形容自己對已故母親的思念是一座墳?zāi)?，令兩人天人永隔?/p>

“Nostalgia was a low grave/ Me on the outside/ Mother on the inside.

“鄉(xiāng)愁是一方矮矮的墳?zāi)?，我在外頭，母親在里頭。”

And when the news came that Yu passed away on Dec 14, this metaphor was quoted and rewritten by his fans to express their nostalgia for this great writer:

當(dāng)余老于12月14日逝世的消息傳出后，這個比喻被粉絲們加以引用并改寫，來表達他們對這位偉大作家的緬懷之情。

“Now it’s us on the outside, and you on the inside.”

“如今我們在外頭，而你卻在去了里頭。”

Born in 1928 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, Yu spent his younger days on the Chinese mainland before moving to Taiwan in his 20s. Nostalgia – which Yu wrote in his 40s to voice his homesickness for his childhood motherland – became his most well-known work, since it resonated with many who were far away from home. The poem appeared in Chinese school textbooks and was adapted into songs.

余光中1928年生于江蘇南京，在中國大陸度過了自己的少年時代，20多歲時遷往臺灣。余光中寫鄉(xiāng)愁時已過不惑之年，他抒發(fā)了自己對于童年故土的思念之情，這首詩在許多背井離鄉(xiāng)的人中引發(fā)共鳴，因而成為了他最負盛名的作品。該詩曾被選入中國大陸的語文課本，并被改編成多首歌曲。

However, the fact that Nostalgia became so famous also disturbed Yu because among the over 1,000 poems that he’d written, Nostalgia seemed to be the only one that the public ever talked about and appreciated.

然而，《鄉(xiāng)愁》的名氣也給余光中帶來了困擾，因為在他所作的1000多首詩歌中，似乎從來只有《鄉(xiāng)愁》被公眾所談?wù)摵托蕾p。

“I’d like to think of Nostalgia as my business card, but unfortunately it got too big that it kept people from seeing the real me,” Yu once said, according to China Youth Daily.

據(jù)《中國青年報》報道，余光中曾說，“《鄉(xiāng)愁》是我的名片，但也好像一張巨大的名片，有時遮住了我本人的面孔”。

Indeed, writing poems is only one of Yu’s many talents. Great Chinese writer Liang Shiqiu (1903-1987) once said of Yu, “He writes poems with his right hand and proses with his left. There is hardly anyone who matches his achievements at the time.”

誠然，寫詩只是余光中眾多才華之一。中國文學(xué)大家梁實秋曾這樣評價余光中：“右手寫詩，左手寫散文，成就之高一時無兩。”

Yu was also a translator. According to CGTN, Yu spoke French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian, and published 13 translation collections.

余光中同時也是位翻譯家。據(jù)中國國際電視臺報道，余光中通曉法語、德語、西班牙語、意大利語以及俄語，并出版了13部翻譯作品集。

And he used his talents well. He spent his whole life working, even in his 80s. According to Xinhua News Agency, Yu said in October that whenever people asked whether he still kept the habit of writing up, he would always answer, “Why don’t you ask me if I’m still breathing?”

他的才華也得到了充分的施展。他一生筆耕不輟，即使80歲高齡也是如此。據(jù)新華社報道，余老曾在今年十月表示，每當(dāng)有人問他是否還保留著寫作的習(xí)慣，他都會回答，“你們怎么不問我還有沒有呼吸呀?”

To him, writing was an inseparable part of life that shouldn’t be affected by age or anything else.

于他而言，寫作就是生命中不可分割的一部分，不應(yīng)受到年齡或者其他事情的影響。

Now that Yu has taken his last breath, his writing career has finally been put to rest. But the many books he wrote and translated will continue to carry the nostalgia people have for him.

如今余老走到了生命的終點，寫作生涯就此停息，但他的眾多著作和譯作將繼續(xù)承載著人們對他的懷念。