The Wild Swans at Coole
-by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.
The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant
creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they
will,
Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?
我在《逐夢者》裡面引了句英文詩：「 Passion or conquest,
wander where they will, Attend upon them still」，出自葉慈(William
Butler Yeats)的The Wild Swans at Coole。那是我很久以前讀過的詩，印象頗深。寫修女讓宋玥夢讀英詩時，就想起了這一首。一開始是想寫她年少讀詩，沒讀懂，長大了再讀，才發現自己一直理解錯了——這其實是我自己看書常有的遭遇。
小說裡宋玥夢第一次讀這首詩之時大約十三四歲，修女讓她讀詩，旨在讓她有比較全面的美學教育，並不是為了教她文學賞析，所以很多作品只是略讀。她讀完這兩句詩心生嚮往，某程度上是誤讀，並沒有真正理解全首詩合起來在講的是什麼。她後來在大學逼於無奈主修英文，應該會再讀到葉慈的作品，那時候她就會知道年少時只看見這首詩光明的那一段，卻沒有留意到詩人說：「And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,」。為什麼my heart is sore呢？詩人為了什麼而難過？All’s
changed，是什麼變了呢？
葉慈寫這首詩的時候年過五十，時值第一次世界大戰。他拜訪友人Lady Gregory，並在她位於Coole Park的家小住。Lady Gregory的兒子Major Robert Gregory死於戰爭，這首詩後來結集成書，便注明是獻給Major
Robert Gregory。葉慈寫天鵝始終如初見時般神秘又美麗，卻更加襯托出他的心境不若從前。是另一種的「桃花依舊，人面全非」。
宋玥夢在二十幾歲的時候再讀這首詩，大概就會對其中的滄桑有切身的體會。看起來仍是那麼美好的天鵝，一如她年輕時做過的那些前程錦繡的音樂夢。可是她這時回頭看那些美夢，恐怕就像詩人那樣，僅是想起年青第一次見這些天鵝時，自己的步履曾經輕盈，而如今，卻一切都變了，只餘滿心酸楚。
這是我本來計劃要寫的一個小片段，只是小說寫到後來，有太多其他情節要寫，也就實在找不到空間發展這條小小的伏線，僅保留了這一句詩。今日心血來潮再讀這首詩，才發現當時憑記憶寫的東西並不準確，刻意為之的誤讀其實是貨真價實的「記錯了」。為免錯得太過離譜，我稍微作出了一些修正。
重讀這首詩，我忽然覺得全詩最重要的那一句，並不是上面談到的任何一句，而是這句：Their
hearts have not grown old。
只要年輕的心不老，大概壯志與激情，也就能不滅了吧？
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