A Summer Place

My translation of the lyrics of A Summer Place as a single line of four characters...

There's a summer place 夏日一方
Where it may rain or storm 若雨或霣
Yet I'm safe and warm 安然無冷
For within that summer place 夏日之範
Your arms reach out to me 有君臂擁
And my heart is free from all care 逍遙無憂

For it knows 心知肚明 

There are no gloomy skies 天無陰霾
When seen through the eyes 情人西施

Of those who are blessed with love 有緣有份
And the sweet secret of 夏處甜秘
A summer place 情侶天涯
Is that it's anywhere 九州四海
When two people share 所有共有

All their hopes 二人希望
All their dreams 比翼綺夢
All their love 鶼鰈恩情

Yet I'm safe and warm 安暖未失

In your arms, in your arms 在君懷擁
In your arms, in your arms 懷中懷中
In your arms, in your arms 君臂情懷

Saturday, September 30, 2023

I wanted to do a poem totally in a Chinese way using the theme of the song. Even under the haunting melody of the movie’s theme I could find no inspiration. Went through several iterations during my evening jogs and nothing special happened. I had difficulty in the rhyming and imagery…

Then one night while listening to another movie theme music of another Troy Donahue’s movie, Parrish that some mental obstacle was dislodged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz70Ttx3epk

The original first line, 夏日祕處廿六春 became the third line with appropriate changes. Still, the journey was rocky. During my jog, the idea of having the first line as 難逢偶遇千杯少 gave me hope. Just before going to bed, the third and fourth lines coalesced. I was happy and able to sleep. Then in the middle of the night, I woke up and suddenly, the first and second lines came into being, like melting icicles dripping away under the eaves sweeping away the last of all the encountered obstacles. When I woke up the next morning, I was able to complete it.

1 難逢綺夢渡春宵 ‘tis rare to pass a spring night with a beautiful dream,
2 蓬萊無限醉逍遙 Where boundless carefreeness of paradise inebriated by endless elixir…
3 夏日祕處若然雨 And if rains do intrude upon this secret summer place for two,
4 葉下相偎一傲笑 Under the canopy of leaves, in cuddles - laughing defiantly at the face of adversity.

1 I used 渡 instead of 度 to emphasize the physical crossing rather than the state of the idea.

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Penglai

3 The pivot line, the gist of “A Summer Place”

4 What’s not said but implied are the first four characters to represent Mandarin Ducks taking refuge under the lotus leaves during a summer rain. Lotus are symbols of symbol, the ducks – fidelity and rains to represent adversity. Ties nicely with the previous line. 傲 means “to defy” with pride. Thus, 傲笑 means to laugh haughtily at things of no consequence as long as they have each other.

Wednesday, 04 October 2023