The Little Black Boy by William Blake
My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but oh my soul is white!
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black, as if bereaved of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And, sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissed me,
And, pointed to the east, began to say:
"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives His light, and gives His heat away,
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.
"And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
"For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice,
Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice',"
Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;
And thus I say to little English boy.
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy
I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.
昨天美國大選日，我本來不想看開票，心想Obama穩贏；坐在電腦前工作了二十分鐘，心裡還是好奇，就轉開電視當背景音樂邊工作邊聽。Obama一路贏，等我洗澡出來11點，CNN已經提前宣布Obama當選。我一向不關心美國政治，對Obama和McCain這兩個人更是陌生得可以；然而看著電視上的畫面，心裡卻感動得不得了。
大學時上英詩課，很喜歡William Blake的詩：反映現實，同情社會，尤其這首 “The Little Black Boy”我久久不能忘懷。昨天晚上聽著CNN主持人和來賓感性地（灑狗血？）說這是歷史新的一頁，腦中浮現的就是這首詩，還有以前美史課上讀過黑人作家寫的零星片段。當然我知道，Obama上任後要面對的是一個多艱難的情況，要達到他訴求的「改變」實在很難；我也知道政客就是政客，要用銳利的眼光觀察他們的行為，用冷靜的頭腦分析他們的語言；但是我還是很感動，美國人選出了歷史上第一位非裔的總統。
不過我是Obama當選的受害人，今天上的三班課，學生個個雙眼發直，都說是昨晚看轉播看的，還有兩個遠征費城親身感受臨場的滾滾熱情。問他們喜歡不喜歡結果，多數人開心地點頭，少數幾個支持McCain的搖頭，卻也不見雙方有誰面露不滿之色或出言嘲諷的。剛點開Yahoo，看到陳雲林被困的新聞，只能搖頭。自詡為華人地區民主代表的台灣人，離真正的民主，還有一段長遠的路吧！
2008/11/5
My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but oh my soul is white!
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black, as if bereaved of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And, sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissed me,
And, pointed to the east, began to say:
"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives His light, and gives His heat away,
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.
"And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
"For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice,
Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice',"
Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;
And thus I say to little English boy.
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy
I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.
昨天美國大選日，我本來不想看開票，心想Obama穩贏；坐在電腦前工作了二十分鐘，心裡還是好奇，就轉開電視當背景音樂邊工作邊聽。Obama一路贏，等我洗澡出來11點，CNN已經提前宣布Obama當選。我一向不關心美國政治，對Obama和McCain這兩個人更是陌生得可以；然而看著電視上的畫面，心裡卻感動得不得了。
大學時上英詩課，很喜歡William Blake的詩：反映現實，同情社會，尤其這首 “The Little Black Boy”我久久不能忘懷。昨天晚上聽著CNN主持人和來賓感性地（灑狗血？）說這是歷史新的一頁，腦中浮現的就是這首詩，還有以前美史課上讀過黑人作家寫的零星片段。當然我知道，Obama上任後要面對的是一個多艱難的情況，要達到他訴求的「改變」實在很難；我也知道政客就是政客，要用銳利的眼光觀察他們的行為，用冷靜的頭腦分析他們的語言；但是我還是很感動，美國人選出了歷史上第一位非裔的總統。
不過我是Obama當選的受害人，今天上的三班課，學生個個雙眼發直，都說是昨晚看轉播看的，還有兩個遠征費城親身感受臨場的滾滾熱情。問他們喜歡不喜歡結果，多數人開心地點頭，少數幾個支持McCain的搖頭，卻也不見雙方有誰面露不滿之色或出言嘲諷的。剛點開Yahoo，看到陳雲林被困的新聞，只能搖頭。自詡為華人地區民主代表的台灣人，離真正的民主，還有一段長遠的路吧！
2008/11/5
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