序言
詩是我一生的嗜好。我對詩的興趣從高中開始，一直保持到現在。然而，直到1980年代後期我才開始譯詩。常常在課餘悠閒的時候，每逢偶然發現一首啟發靈感的詩，我就會試著將它從原文翻成譯文。練習用二種不同的語言，將意象以最逼真的方法來組合，令我感到興奮，而從事這工作所引起的喜悅是難以名狀的。
退休的最初幾年，翻譯的喜悅充實了我同時用中、英文寫詩的能力。使我感動的那些人生浮沉所掠過的生動情景，透過一已的領會、對源自深永意象的頓悟，以及對退休年歲的展望有一種新而微妙的變更—凡此皆有助於值得作為寫一首新詩的動機。借助對詩的長期投注，由是我寫了很多未經發表的詩，有原作的，也有譯作的。
近幾年來，我花了些時間，修改了一些可讀的詩，依類編組，結果有176首詩詞被收入一書，取書名為「悠閒自得——中英文詩詞選集」。
本書的主要內容，就如書名所示，概括了我一生嗜好的一些智力活動。
謹以此書獻給我舅舅，感謝他費心血扶養我長大成人，以及給順菊作為我們金婚之慶。
Preface
To me, poetry is a life-long hobby. My interest in poetry started when I was in high school and has continued ever since. However, it was not until late 1980s that I started to translate
poems. Often, in a carefree mood during my leisure time, whenever I came across with a poem that inspired me, I would make an effort to translate it from its source language into a target
language. This exercise of associating images in two different languages with the utmost degree of verisimilitude excited me and the joys derived from pursuing such a task were beyond words to
describe.
In earlier years of my retirement, the joys of translation enriched my ability to compose poems in both Chinese and English. Vivid scenes gliding through the vicissitudes of life that touched
my heart, the epiphany arising from cherished images through personal feelings, and a new, subtle change of diverse outlooks towards my retirement years – all would go far to justify the
motivation to write a new poem. As a result, a vast number of unpublished poems, original or translated, was worked out with the aid of a long-time devotion to poetry.
In recent years, I spent time editing some of those readable poems and organized them by categories into a collection of 176 poems and lyrics selected and included in a book, entitled “The
Epiphany of a Carefree Mind-An Anthology of Poems and Lyrics in Chinese and/ or in English.”
The core contents of this book, as suggested by its title, epitomize the intellectual activities of a life-long hobby.
I wish to dedicate this book to my uncle in appreciation of the time and efforts he spent bringing me up and to my wife for celebrating our 50th anniversary.
