http://www.rupertbrooke.com/

根據 Virginia Woolf 的說法， Rupert Brooke 比一般人敏感四十倍。假如這是她的標準，我們要如何估算 Rupert Brooke 的細緻神經？只能說：而
Virginia Woolf 又比我們敏感四十倍。

葉慈讚美 Rupert Brooke 是英國最帥的美男子。我們去劍橋一定會去的朝聖地 Grantchester 就是他當年的寄宿地，那時候會去造訪他而且成天混在一起的朋友有 E. M. Forster, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell,
Augustus John, Maynard Keynes and Virginia Woolf (The Grantchester
Group)。

現在那個寄宿家庭開放變成了喝茶的果園 Cafe，極盛時期連 ”Please
Return the Tray” 都要翻譯成一百多種語言。 多有名？連和 YV 共享公園板凳看日蝕的老太太都唸得出他詩中的名句(最後兩行):

Stands the church clock at ten-to-three
And is there honey still for tea?


****
昨天順手翻看 Rupert Brooke 詩選，讀到一首短詩，講的是一個思念情人的詩人。在獨處的愉悅裡，他將他最愛的樹林、夜晚和情人視為三位一體的絕美，忽然間，情人出現，光是她的聲音幾乎就要把詩人搞得崩潰。有趣的是：情人說的話恰恰就是詩人心中對黑夜的讚頌。


The Voice by Rupert Brooke

Safe in the magic of my woods
I lay, and watched the dying light.
Faint in the pale high solitudes,
And washed with rain and veiled by night,

Silver and blue and green were showing.
And the dark woods grew darker still;
And birds were hushed; and peace was growing;
And quietness crept up the hill;

And no wind was blowing

And I knew
That this was the hour of knowing,
And the night and the woods and you
Were one together, and I should find
Soon in the silence the hidden key
Of all that had hurt and puzzled me --
Why you were you, and the night was kind,
And the woods were part of the heart of me.

And there I waited breathlessly,
Alone; and slowly the holy three,
The three that I loved, together grew
One, in the hour of knowing,
Night, and the woods, and you ----

And suddenly
There was an uproar in my woods,
The noise of a fool in mock distress,
Crashing and laughing and blindly going,
Of ignorant feet and a swishing dress,
And a Voice profaning the solitudes.

The spell was broken, the key denied me
And at length your flat clear voice beside me
Mouthed cheerful clear flat platitudes.
You came and quacked beside me in the wood.
You said, ”The view from here is very good!”
You said, ”It’s nice to be alone a bit!”
And, ”How the days are drawing out!” you said.
You said, ”The sunset’s pretty, isn’t it?”

By God! I wish -- I wish that you were dead!

Rupert Brooke, 1909


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Brooke