ShawTim’s Gossip

In the Garden of Paradise,
beneath the Tree of Knowledge,
bloomed a rose bush.
Here, in the first rose, a bird was born.
His flight was like the flashing of light,
his plumage was beauteous,
and his song ravishing.
(The Phoenix Bird, by Hans Christian Andersen)

鳳凰，棲息於梧桐上。
牠正在整理著一身華麗而漂亮的纖紅色羽毛。
羽毛隱隱透出華光，襯托著鳳凰尊容華貴的氣質，那風華絕代的儀表，無怪，千百年來鳳凰都是藝術的題材。
鳳凰，本身就是一件藝術品。

The bird perished in the flames;
but from the red egg in the nest there fluttered aloft a new one
the one solitary Phoenix bird.
The fable tells that he dwells in Arabia,
and that every hundred years, he burns himself to death in his nest;
(The Phoenix Bird, by Hans Christian Andersen)

鳳凰色赤，五行屬火。
牠生於火炎，亦死於火炎。牠本身就是一團火炎。
牠在天空飛舞時，就像天空中的第二個太陽，時而溫暖，時而熾熱。
溫和時，牠會在梧桐樹上保護著待在冷天的雛鳥。
狂野時，牠拍一拍右翅上如火舌般火紅的羽毛，足以焚野。
而牠本身最後亦會死於自己的火炎之中，燒成灰燼————
爾後，在灰燼中浴火重生。

是的，鳳凰是不死的。
每相隔一段時間，鳳凰就會自焚，然後在灰燼中重生。
鳳凰是永生的。
儘管鳳凰受著傷，浴著血，鳳凰，也是不會死的。
鳳凰之血，本身就有令人永生的能力。

鳳凰展翅了，鳳舞九霄。
在夕陽映照下，鳳凰仿似把天空燒得一片通紅。
有人說，那天空像華服一般的纖紅。
有人說，那天空像熾炎一般的火紅。
有人說，那天空像鮮血一般的血紅。
「唳————」
鳳凰，在空中劃出一道長長的紅線，向著夕陽飛去————
一直飛去。

The Bird of Paradise,
renewed each century
born in flame,
ending in flame!
Thy picture,
in a golden frame,
hangs in the halls of the rich,
but thou thyself often fliest around,
lonely and disregarded,
a myth–
“The Phoenix of Arabia.”
(The Phoenix Bird, by Hans Christian Andersen)