Let Spring Start from Kaohsiung
讓春天從高雄出發
作者：余光中
讓春天從高雄出發
這轟動南部的消息
讓木棉花的火把
用越野賽跑的速度
一路向北方傳達
讓春天從高雄出發
Let Spring Start from Kaohsiung
by Yu Kwang-chung
Let spring start from Kaohsiung City
This news that thrills the South
Let the torch of cotton trees
At the speed of cross-country race
Spread all the way to the North
Let spring start from Kaohsiung City.
- Translated by Yu Kwang-chung
Lass den Frühling in Kaohsiung beginnen
von Yu Kwang-chung
Lass den Frühling in Kaohsiung beginnen.
Lass die Fackel des Kapokbaums,
schell wie im Überlandrennen,
die belebende Nachricht
von Süden nach Norden tragen.
Lass den Frühling in Kaohsiung beginnen.
-Übersetzt von Felix R. Zhang, Pomona College und Heribert Uschtrin, Goethe-Institut Washington
About the Poet: Yu Kwang-chung (b. 1928)
One of the leading poets living in Taiwan today, Yu Kwang-chung began teaching in 1956, and joined the faculty of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1974, where he taught for over a decade, influencing many young poets. He is now emeritus professor of the National Sun Yat Sen University in Kaohsiung on Taiwan’s southwest coast.
About the Poem: Let Spring Start from Kaohsiung
The explosion of Spring across the countryside is a familiar theme in poetry. But to conceive of this miraculous rebirth as beginning in a city blends the bare fact that nature changes with the power of human emotions in a delightful way. Without human beings to interpret the signs, spread the news, and enjoy the experience, could Spring exist?
