朝氣詩歌

作者：楊景文

Most of the folk singings were lamentation or plaintive in Taiwan when the author was young. One of his teachers said that good songs can raise the morale of people, yet bad songs will make the society decay. One of his Christian friends said:”Why do I go to church? Because I can get a peaceful mind when I hear hymns. That is the reason I go to church.^〃 The author wanted to promote the morale of the society. He also wanted to let the people get peaceful minds. He wrote some verses and asked the friends to compose, to sing, to record and to distribute them regardless of that he did not know music. How much influence have these poems and songs given to society is unknown. People say:”An art is permanent.” He wishes some years later，some people might think that his songs might have Archeological value.

After he wrote English poems，he tried to write the same tittle of poems in Taiwanese. Please understand that these are not literal translations, but are free translations. It is harder for him to translate Taiwanese poems into English. But he strained to translate all of them into English poems. The author wishes the readers can correct his mistakes.

作者少時，台灣的民謠，大都是悲哀的歌曲。作者幼時聽老師說：「好的詩歌能提高士氣，壞的歌曲可使社會頹廢。」有一位基督敎朋友說：「爲什麼我要去敎會？因爲我聽聖歌，感覺心情寧靜，所以才要去敎會。」我想要提高士氣，我也想要民人能獲安寧心情，所以不顧自己是外行人，寫一些詩詞，拜托好友作曲、演唱、並錄音起來、頒給各界人士。這些拙歌，有沒有發生影響？不得而知。有人說：「藝術是永恆的。」但願年後，有人會想，拙詩歌或有考古學的價値。

我有時寫英詩，然後再用漢文寫相同題目的詩。請各位諒解，這些詩不是直譯，而是意譯的。對我來講，要將漢詩翻爲英詩是較難的。但發願勉強譯成英詩，敬請各位不吝指正。