YOUTH _Samuel Ullman 靑春

 

I love to read and think of this meaning of the poem that moved a great general  so much that it had been posted always by him. It was General Douglas MacArthur who facilitated Ullman's popularity as a poet. He hung a framed copy of a version of Ullman's poem "Youth" on the wall of his office in Tokyo and often quoted from the poem in his speeches. The orginal poem is translated in my preference style to preserve its meaning accurately...  

 

 

YOUTH 靑春

Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind;

靑春이란 시간이 아닌 마음이어라.

It is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;

장미빛 뺨, 앵두같은 입술 그리고 버드나무같은 다리가 아닌

It is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;
의지, 상상력 그리고 타오르는 情熱이어라.

It is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

靑春이란 삶의 깊은 곳에서 솟아 오르는 맑은 샘물이며

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease.

소극적이지 않은 勇氣이며 안이하지 않은 冒險이어라

This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty.

때로는 스무살 젊은이 보다 예순살 노인에게 靑春이 있나니

Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.

시간이 흐른다고 사람은 늙지 않으며
We grow old by deserting our ideals.
理想을 잃을 때 비로소 늙나니

 

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

세월은 몸을 늙게하고 情熱을 잃으면 마음이 늙게 되며,

Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

근심, 걱정, 失望은 마음을 해치고 드디어 正信마저 빼앗아 버리나니

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living.

열여섯이건 예순이건 가슴은 敬畏에 끌리어
어린이같이 未知를 探求하며 삶의 歡喜를 느끼나니

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station;

우리의 가슴속에 無電機가 있어

So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

全知全能하신 者와 靈魂으로부터 늘 아름다움, 希望, 기쁨, 勇氣, 힘을 수신하여  젊어지나니.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty,
마음속 무전기가 꺼질때, 冷笑의 눈과 悲嘆의 얼음이 정신을 가리어

스무살에도 늙어 버리나니

But as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism,

그러나 希望을 찾아 마음속에 무전기를 켜고 있는 한
There is hope you may die young at eighty.                           

여든살이 되어서도 靑春을 갖고 죽을것이니