The Wood Finishing
Painting the wood under the southern sun
Using small gentle strokes
Tracing down the grain with my fingertips
Feeling a larger force brushing over me
Whoever you are
Wherever you are
Do a good wood finishing on me
For I may be ragged, out of fashion
I was made solid, and I will endure
Sand me a clean surface
Sand off the sticking stains and
The bruises of the memories
Paint me a rich coat of color
Paint an unmistakable boldness
An unapologetic excellence
Then cover me with clear lacquer
Shield me from the thrushes outside
And from the doubts within
I shall be standing calmly under the southern sun
Waiting for the whole new beginning
- Re: The Wood Finishingposted on 03/15/2005
I can feel the strong emotion from the powerful language, yet don't understand this wood finishing business in south? Is it a kind of furniture making in a certain southern area? - Re: The Wood Finishingposted on 03/15/2005
我喜欢这几句
Paint me a rich coat of color
Paint an unmistakable boldness
An unapologetic excellence
作者运用中文传统文字中常见的比喻和拟人手法但用英文写出让人感觉不但不旧反而新颖,有了诗意。
没读过英文诗歌,直觉猜测作者这种表达在英文语言中应不多见
我没有根据随意乱评, 欢迎指证。
- Re: The Wood Finishingposted on 03/15/2005
adagio wrote:
I can feel the strong emotion from the powerful language, yet don't understand this wood finishing business in south? Is it a kind of furniture making in a certain southern area?
North Carolina - the world capital of furniture making. - Re: The Wood Finishingposted on 03/15/2005
Adagio, this is basically the last step of furniture making (or in this case, repainting an old furniture), when you smooth out the surface of the wood, apply the paint and a protective polish. "Southern sun" doesn't have a particular meaning, other than that I live in the south and you need to let the paint dry throughly under the warm sun.
Benben, thanks for the kind word. I don't read a lot of English poems myself coz I usually lose my patience after one page. :-)
- posted on 03/15/2005
Ah, now I understand your poem. How slow I am.
Like Nietzsche said (as favorably quoted by Jimbut so many times), how much one has to suffer to be able to become so beautiful! So I guess the finishing is the final step. :)
Yet by painting a coating you don't want to be shielded from the world, you want to bring all of it into you, bring the sunlight, the air, the fresh smell of spring, the rain, the wild gale, the children's laughters, or desperate crys ... bring every bit of life inside you. Thus, we say how beautiful this desk stands - solid, elegant and shinny. :) - Re: The Wood Finishingposted on 03/16/2005
Thanks adagio. That was beautifully put.
It is ok. It is only the negative impacts that the finishing would shield the wood from. It is the equivalence of the "thick skin" i'd like to have. :-)
- Re: The Wood Finishingposted on 03/21/2005
An interesting poem, kinda neat.
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