Professor Alan MacFarlane alongside Oscar Award winner Tim Yip at the Xu Zhimo Poetry and Arts Festival. /CGTN
The 9th Xu Zhimo International Poetry and Arts Festival has kicked off at King's College, Cambridge.
Poets, artists and scholars from Britain, Europe and China have joined this arts exchange festival. Seminars, exhibitions, and book reading are being held in King's College in the world-famous English city.
Professor Alan MacFarlane addresses the audience. /CGTN
According to Zilan Wang, the festival organizer, this year's event aims to celebrate the opportunities to meet in person again and embrace the profound beauty of human connection through the power of poetry and arts.
Since 2014, the Xu Zhimo International Poetry and Arts Festival has become a revered platform for poets, artists and scholars from around the world to gather and celebrate the beauty of language, culture, and art.
Xu Zhimo was a great Chinese poet who studied at King's College in the 1920s. He made many friends there among leading scholars, thinkers, and fellow writers and artists including Virginia Wolf, Katherine Mansfield and Roger Fry.
His poem Second Farewell to Cambridge is a much-loved anthology piece in China, and it is learnt by all Chinese schoolchildren. Largely due to the popularity of this poem, thousands of Chinese tourists visit Cambridge every year, which has led this festival to become one of the most internationally influential arts festivals in the United Kingdom.
再别康桥 Second Farewell to Cambridge
轻轻的我走了
Quietly, quietly, I am leaving
正如我轻轻的来
Just as quietly as I came
我轻轻的招手
Gently, I wave goodbye
作别西天的云彩
To the clouds in the Western sky.
那河畔的金柳
The golden willow on the bank of the Cam
是夕阳中的新娘
Stands like a bride in the sunset
波光里的艳影
Her reflection shimmers in the water
在我的心头荡漾
And ripples in my heart.
软泥上的青荇
The rushes in the soft riverbed
油油的在水底招摇
Sway and glisten underwater
在康河的柔波里
I'd gladly be a river weed
我甘心做一条水草
Tossed by the currents of the Cam.
那榆荫下的一潭
In the shadow of the elm is a pool
不是清泉
Not of clear spring water,
是天上虹
But a rainbow from heaven
揉碎在浮藻间
Crushed and crumpled among the duckweed
沉淀着彩虹似的梦
Leaving only a rainbow-like dream.
寻梦？撑一支长蒿
Searching for a dream? Take a long pole and punt
向青草更青处漫溯
Gently back towards the greenest of green grass
满载一船星辉
In a boat brimful of starlight
在星辉斑斓里放歌
Singing out loud in the splendour of the starlight
但我不能放歌
I cannot sing aloud now
悄悄是别离的笙箫
The flute and pan-pipes of parting have gone silent
夏虫也会为我沉默
Even the clamorous summer insects are hushed for me
沉默是今晚的康桥
Silence tonight in Cambridge
悄悄的我走了走了
Quietly, quietly I am leaving
正如我悄悄的来
Just as quietly as I came
我挥一挥衣袖
Careful not to brush away with my sleeve
不带走一片云彩
The faintest wisp of a cloud