Looking up at the night sky of London, you can seldom see any stars due to the light pollution. Once as a hobby, I used to gaze at the starry sky in my hometown. I still remember the first time I read the translation of the lyrics of the song Vincent (Starry Sky) in the first issue of the school magazine of Harbin No.3 High School with the same name —
http://acfunwiki.org/upload/music/Starry-Night.mp5 ← Rename it to mp3 and you can listen to it, or find it in the playlist in the music player on the left side.
星空下,调色板上只有蓝与灰
你用那透视我灵魂深处的双眼,望向夏日的夜空
山上的阴影衬托出树和水仙的轮廓
用雪地斑驳的色彩,捕捉微风和冬日的寒冷
如今我才明白 你想对我说什么
你如何苦于智慧折磨 又如何将它放飞
他们却不予理会 他们也不知道如何面对
也许现在他们会知道
星夜下 艳丽的花朵燃烧般怒放
云朵在紫色的雾霭之中旋绕 印在VINCENT蓝色的眼眸中
色彩变化万千 清晨琥珀色的田野
饱经风霜的脸上写着痛苦
在艺术家灵性的手上得到真是的再现
他们不能爱你 但你的爱依然真实存在
星夜下当心中没有一丝希望
你象热恋的人儿般结束了自己的生命
但我希望曾经告诉你 VINCENT
这个世界在你的眼里最美丽
星夜下空荡荡的大厅里挂着你的画像
无名的墙上挂着没有边框的头像
用眼睛看着这个世界 不能忘记
就像你曾经遇到的陌生人
衣衫褴褛
血红的玫瑰银色的刺
破碎在洁白的雪地里
I used to study the English version of the lyrics in middle school. I was deeply amazed by the painting described by the lyrics and the lyrics itself. Moreover, I was determined to get into that top-level high school in the province, this song somehow became a totem, a lighthouse, a guidance of my path.
Ironically enough, it was not until I got into that school that I have heard the song itself. The first time I heard it, I did not even realize it was THE song whose lyrics I have so closely studied:
Starry starry night
paint your palette blue and grey
look out on a summer’s day
with eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills
sketch the trees and the daffodils
catch the breeze and the winter chills
in colors on the snowy linen land.
And now I understand
what you tried to say to me
and how you suffered for your sanity
and how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen they did not know how
perhaps they’ll listen now.
Starry starry night
flaming flowers that brightly blaze
swirling clouds in violet haze
reflect in Vincent’s eyes of China blue.
Colors changing hue
morning fields of amber grain
weathered faces lined in pain
are smoothed beneath the artist’s loving hand.
And now I understand
what you tried to say to me
and how you suffered for your sanity
and how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen they did not know how
perhaps they’ll listen now.
For they could not love you
but still your love was true
and when no hope was left in sight on that
starry starry night.
You took your life as lovers often do,
But I could have told you Vincent
this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
Starry starry night
portraits hung in empty halls
frameless heads on nameless walls
with eyes that watch the world and can’t forget.
Like the stranger that you’ve met
the ragged men in ragged clothes
the silver thorn of bloody rose
lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
And now I think I know
what you tried to say to me
and how you suffered for your sanity
and how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen they’re not listening still
perhaps they never will.
I can’t really remember the exact circumstance in which I first heard this song. I only had a very amazing and warm feeling when I recall that bit of my memory. Two years in Class 16 transformed me – well, maybe from a naïve child to a not-so-naïve child. I had my first taste of friendship there; a place where I truly felt I belong to. Even with all my friends scattered all over the country, I can still remember their faces and nicknames vividly. The bitter yet crispy feeling of the winter air in the new campus, the photos and video clips I have taken with my DV, the Class Diary, the Mini-Football match in the corridor…
Amazingly, they are still there, shining like stars, in the depth of my memory.
Starry starry night.
I make my wish to the shooting star. Please never let my memory perish. They are my most precious treasures…
