내 젊은 시절을 돌아보며 Yesterday When I was Young

To J with Love
 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear John,

This is my favorite song that makes me
repent my past hours.


Yesterday When I was Young - Roy Clark

                                  - tr. by Richard Chong Sohn
https://youtu.be/N47cdd9zSZE

" Seems the love I've known " 내가 격은 사랑은 언제나
has always been a most destructive kind 나를 송두리채 무너뜨렸었네
Yes, that's why now I feel so old 이제 오직 남은 건, 옳거니,
Before my time ... 죽음 앞둔 내 늙은 육신 뿐 ... "

Yesterday when I was young 내 젊은 시절엔
The taste of life was sweet 혓바닥에 감촉되는 단비처럼
As rain upon my tongue 인생은 달디 단 꿀맛이었어라
I teased at life as if 내 삶이 어리석은 도박인양
It were a foolish game 헛되이 희롱했었네
The way the evening breeze 일렁이는 촛불처럼
May tease a candle flame 저녁바람은 감미롭고
The thousand dreams I dreamed 내가 꾸었던 수많은 꿈
The splendid things I planned 내가 세웠던 찬란한 계획들
I always built, alas, 모래위에 바람처럼
On weak and shifting sands 흩어졌어라
I lived by night 밤을 지새우며
And shunned the naked light of day 밝은 아침 해를 보지 않았었네
And only now I see 이제 내게 남은 건
All the years that ran away 사라져버린 날들의 추억 뿐

Yesterday when I was young 내 젊은 시절엔
So many happy songs 날 부르던
Were waiting to be sung 그 수많은 환희의 노래
So many wild pleasures 그 수많은 쾌락이
That lay in store for me 나를 기다렸었네
And so much pain  하지만 지금은 내 현혹된 눈으로
My dazzled eyes refused to see 차마 볼 수 없는 고통만이 남았네

I ran so fast that time 그 시절엔 너무 들떴었고
And youth at last ran out 젊음은 덧없이 사라졌네
I never stopped to think 내 삶의 정체가 무엇인지
What life was all about 잠시도 성찰해 보지 않았었네
And every conversation 머리에 떠오르는
That I can now recall 그 모든 대화들이
Concerned itself with me, 오직 나를위해 있었지만
And nothing else at all 난 전혀 몰랐었네

Yesterday the moon was blue 그 시절엔 달빛이 푸르고
And every crazy day 온갖 열정의 시간들이
Brought something new to do 새로운 그 무엇을 추구했었네
I used my magic age 마술같은 내 젊음을
As if it were a wand 요술지팡이 인양 휘두르며
And never saw the waste 온갖 허상과 공허함을
And emptiness beyond 난 보지 못했었네

The game of love I played 발정한 수캐처럼
With arrogance and pride 오만했던 사랑의 유희
And every flame I lit 내가 밝혔던 그 모든 불꽃들
Too quickly, quickly died 덧없이 소리없이 사라졌네
The friends I made all seemed 내가 사귄 친구
Somehow to drift away 모두 떠나갔네
And only I am left 막이 내리는 무대위에
On stage to end the play 나 혼자 남아있네

There are so many songs 그 수많은 내안의 노래
In me that won't be sung 더 이상 들려오지 않네
I feel the bitter taste 혓바닥에 감촉되는 눈물처럼
As tears upon my tongue 인생은 쓴 맛이어라
The time has come for me to pay 고통의 날은 다가와
Oh yesterday when I was young 내 젊은 시절을 돌아보네


All through the night stayed up 밤새워 이 노래를
writing to J, 제이에게 쓰면서,
Richard
Nov 18 Thu 2004

 

 

*

The Sound of Silence (Original Version from 1964) 
 
https://youtu.be/bGLHadex0B0

Hello darkness, my old friend 
I've come to talk with you again 
Because a vision softly creeping 
Left its seeds while I was sleeping 
And the vision that was planted in my brain 
Still remains 
Within the sound of silence 
In restless dreams I walked alone 
Narrow streets of cobblestone 
'Neath the halo of a street lamp 
I turned my collar to the cold and damp 
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light 
That split the night 
And touched the sound of silence 
And in the naked light I saw 
Ten thousand people maybe more 
People talking without speaking 
People hearing without listening 
People writing songs that voices never shared 
No one dared 
Disturb the sound of silence 
"Fools," said I, "you do not know 
Silence like a cancer grows 
Hear my words that I might teach you 
Take my arms that I might reach you" 
But my words like silent raindrops fell 
And echoed in the wells of silence 
And the people bowed and prayed 
To the neon god they made 
And the sign flashed out its warning 
In the words that it was forming 
And the sign said "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls 
And tenement halls 
And whispered in the sound of silence"