CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
继续和时光恋爱 [Continuing to Fall in Love With Time]
Written by Ang Jin Yong and Lee Po Kee
Translated by Jonathan Chan
Dated 27 Nov 2023
导论
梁文福是新加坡著名的跨媒介才子、学者，横跨文学与音乐两界，享有“新谣精神人物”、“新谣之父”等美名，并获奖无数，包括“青年艺术家”、“文化家”等国家级奖项。（邹佩颖2022：13）梁的创作与里程碑甚多，蔽文将以他的三篇诗集《盛满凉凉的歌》（梁文福 1985）、《其实我是在和时光谈恋爱》（梁文福1989）和《嗜诗》（梁文福1996）为例，浅谈梁诗中刻画新加坡在现代化发展的一些面向，包括“新加坡人”主体（subjectivity）得以“确立”所激发的自豪感，及国人生活日常的点滴。
何处是家乡
梁文福早期的创作已展现他了解新加坡人的“乡”不是像其他历史悠久的国家一般的“乡”。新加坡的国土狭小，梁文福光是在德光岛执勤就已经感到像离乡背井了。以此为燃料的〈思念，一盏盏〉就是书写他在德光岛执勤时的感想：“有华灯千盏，夜夜，在对面的岛上／一盏盏，一盏盏，一盏盏／隔着海，隔许多载满乡愁的船／每一盏是一种思念／思念和风竞相袭人，到了晚上／在这山头寂寂。一个人／向前望／涨了潮水，如愁绪／想家想家啊好想家／低下头／制服的颜色提醒着他／一种责任”（梁文福1985：46-47）。
那时的梁文福，比其他同龄人更了解自己的灵魂归宿。新加坡多元种族并存，优点是能够把各民各族的人都放在一个大熔炉里互相混合，但是多元的文化也免不了令人渐渐地失去了那种“根”的深刻感觉；加上土地有限，还没真正看仔细就一下子发展起来了。犹如他在〈故乡〉中他写道：“我们不像他国人民，在长大后由故乡出发到大城市发展。我们只有一个本岛，要出外，就出国；要归来，有故国，但没有故乡――我们生命的故乡，童年少年时生活的故居，已不得不因现代化的需求而翻新、重建、消失。”（梁文福1997：156-157）。所以，到底新加坡人是浮萍？是柳絮？还是那等着靠岸的船？
步入城市化的新加坡
新加坡在1980年代末不仅是经济开始腾飞的年代，也是国人通过努力，便可居者有其屋、安居乐业的黄金年代。通过国民齐心，新加坡一个全无天然资源的蕞尔岛国，得以在国际、区域等获得不俗的成绩。此时，新加坡也开始更用心打造一个属于“新加坡人”的新加坡，也推动了“国民意识”与重新确立“主体”的情怀与思潮。
梁在诗中常以“新加坡人”生活点滴和语境入诗，如〈组屋族〉（梁文福1989：131-132）里所刻画的形形色色“吾族用报纸来早餐／用抽水马桶马桶打未完成之哈欠／用信箱养鱼和雁及点单／用铁门来篱芭……”，“吾族”一词在这诗中产生了意思上的变异，也为诗名“组屋族”点题。这首组诗很生活化地节选出生活在新加坡人生活在组屋与社区里的不同意象，使充满气息的生活场景让读者身历其境。另外，该组诗的最后一组，写道“谁管上帝住不住在二十五楼／我们住在二十四楼／没时间上去过” 〉（梁文福1989：132），短短的三句意味深长，留下许多解读的空间——能解读为人民安居乐，期待过着自己的小日子，又或是在一片欣欣向荣的大都会里，人们开始自扫门前雪，而对于彼此的生活不如以往甘榜时期的密切与热情。
生活与传承
80年代末，政局、经济、工业化等实业发展获得成就的同时，也使许多以往的生活方式慢慢改变、残喘与消亡。以〈回声〉为例，新加坡文学研究者，林高认为“〈回声〉说的是文化的传承。明显的，传统式微，所谓传承，有心而乏力。”（林高2014）这也从诗的开始就埋下了伏笔“爷爷告诉我，昨日仍锁在旧厦里／我铸好了钥匙，抚遍了铜门／竟寻不着钥孔的影儿”，隐喻着许多旧事，未曾经历过的新一代或许已无法在寻获和体会。随后在第三段的“爷爷告诉我，苍龙还盹睡在古井里”，便定下了整首诗的基调，给予读者一种萧瑟、无奈之感，也做实了诗的最后一段，“爷爷告诉：哎，不要紧／遥远还馥郁在他的江西茶壶里／我揭开壶盖，轻轻地：喂／久久，才听到，小小的——唉”。“喂”是慰问是打招呼，而“久久”后得到的是一声无力“唉”的回应（梁文福1989：17-18），便直接总结了梁这个时代的孩子对于“传承”、“传统”等是相对悲观的。毕竟80年代是新加坡华文教育／学校遭逢巨变，在1978-1980年南洋大学“合并”，以及1987年华校正式走入历史的社会氛围，只要关心华文者，尤其是知识分子都难免心生感伤。
历史退役不退色，成就新时代
《嗜诗》是梁文福自《其实我是在和时光谈恋爱》后相隔七年之后的创作。此时他对“传统”和“国民思想”已经趋于平淡，更多的是对现代新加坡发展的自豪。新加坡自独立后经济一飞冲天，成为国际上耀眼无比的“亚洲四小龙”之一。在不断的耕耘之下，80年代末迎来了丰收的盛况，不但国民丰衣足食，国家高度发展的成绩也是有目共睹。如〈吐纳〉中：“蓝椅上的人。吐纳美国烟／红椅上的人／吐纳日本话／樟宜国际机场胃口好大／吐纳挂着东西南北气候的／脸”（梁文福1996：36-37）。作为多年蝉联亚太地区最佳机场或航空公司的存在，新加坡航空和樟宜机场是新加坡人的骄傲之一。
〈地铁旅程〉是梁文福为欢庆新加坡二十五周年国庆而写，也是为自己撰写的二十五周岁人生留念。这里的地铁是现代的象征，其一特点就是一直向前、线性发展，仿似生产线一样。“地铁向前／向不知回不回得来的远／组屋何田田／植于左 割于右／祖屋何恹恹／封以尘 锁以烟／迢迢在我自小就望不到的／你的童年兀自流连的／昨天的背面”（梁文福1996：140-141）另外，就是“快”：“地铁再快／仍甩不脱长长的轨道／那年的我被你种诗 种词／种礼义种成连根拔起也甩不脱的自己／今天地铁架空种其霸气／在一种来得及遗顾不得忘的速度里／爸爸地铁将来收割甚么记忆？”（梁文福1996：142）显然诗人也觉得一味快也不是好事。“快步而上便是莱佛士也认不得的／莱佛士城／走慢一点便是被整个城市抛下的／我们”（梁文福1996：146）。走得太快，有起点，也有终点，却忽略了周围的风景，是得？是失？见仁见智吧。但无论如何，地铁作为新加坡现代化过程中的标志性产物之一，它的出现不只改变了出行习惯，还有快节奏的处事方式。
小结
梁在文字上的运用是富有浓厚情感的，而操作文字也是高明的，能在短而精，却往往以为绵长的诗句中表达深刻的蕴意——诗有尽，而意无穷。新加坡1980年代唱着经济凯歌，也唱着华校的骊歌，新旧正在交替，人们也适应着甘榜到组屋的生活。一方面“新加坡人”获得了“主体”的确立，但一方面也让不少传统逐渐流失，若鱼与熊掌真不可兼得，那或许真的没有谁赢谁输，只能剩下还懂得的人能继续和时光恋爱。
参考资料（按作家姓名拼音排列）
邹佩颖。2022。《新谣研究：国族意识、文化认同与青年文化——以梁文福和黄宏墨为例》新加坡：新加坡南洋理工大学硕士论文。 https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/handle/10356/163694（见于2022年8月23日）。
林高。2014。〈谁听到哪里的回声 ——读梁文福的《回声》〉（作家部落格），https://lingaounveiled.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/（见于2023年2月8日）。
梁晧。1985。《盛满凉凉的歌》，新加坡：文学书屋。
梁文福。1989。《其实你是在和时光谈恋爱》，新加坡：心情工作室。
梁文福。1997。《半日闲情》，新加坡：SNP Publishing。
梁文福。1996。《嗜诗》，新加坡：云南园雅舍。
Introduction
Dr Liang Wern Fook is well known in Singapore for his talents across artistic media and as a scholar. Liang straddles both the fields of literature and music, being regarded as both a “新谣精神人物” [“Spiritual Figure of Xinyao” ] and the “新谣之父” [“Father of Xinyao”]. Liang’s awards are numerous, including the Young Artist Award for Literature, the Cultural Medallion for Music including Lyrics, and other accolades (Chow, National consciousness, 2022). Liang has experienced a variety of milestones in his creative work. Taking three of Liang’s poetry collections, 《盛满凉凉的歌》[Filled with Cooling Songs] (1985), 《其实我是在和时光谈恋爱》[In Fact I am in Love with Time] (1989), and《嗜诗》[Addicted to Poetry] (1996) this essay will discuss some facets of Singapore’s modernisation explored in Liang’s poems, including the pride that has resulted from the establishment of a Singaporean subjectivity, as well as aspects of daily life in Singapore.
Where is One’s Hometown
Liang’s early works have shown that he understands that the “hometown” or “native dwelling” of Singaporeans is not the “hometown” of other countries that have long histories. Singapore is a small country, and to Liang, being on duty at Pulau Tekong was already akin to leaving his home country. This forms the fuel of the poem <思念，一盏盏> [“Thoughts, One Lamp and Another”]:
有华灯千盏，夜夜，在对面的岛上
一盏盏，一盏盏，一盏盏
隔着海，隔许多载满乡愁的船
每一盏是一种思念
思念和风竞相袭人，到了晚上
在这山头寂寂。一个人
向前望
涨了潮水，如愁绪
想家想家啊好想家
低下头
制服的颜色提醒着他
一种责任[There are thousands of lamps, night after night, on the island opposite
One lamp, another, another
Across the sea, across the many boats laden with homesickness
Each lamp is a kind of thought
Thoughts and the wind compete to strike, until the evening
at this hill, in silence. A single person
looks ahead
the rising tide, like sorrow
thinking of home, of home, ah missing home.
Lowering his head
the colour of his uniform reminds him
of a kind of responsibility]
At the time, it seemed that Liang knew more about where his soul belonged than his peers. In multiracial and multiethnic Singapore, it has the advantage of placing people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds in a melting pot. However, this multiculturalism inevitably leads to the gradual loss of a deep sense of one’s “roots”. Coupled with its limited land area, it is as if Singapore has developed rapidly before one can study it closely. As Liang writes in the vignette <故乡> [“Hometown”]:
我们不像他国人民，在长大后由故乡出发到大城市发展。我们只有一个本岛，要出外，就出国；要归来，有故国，但没有故乡――我们生命的故乡，童年少年时生活的故居，已不得不因现代化的需求而翻新、重建、消失。
[We are not like people in other countries who grow up and go to big cities from their hometowns. We have only one home island, and if we want to go abroad, we go abroad; if we want to return, we have a home country, but there is no hometown — the hometown of our lives, the home neighbourhoods we lived when we were children and teenagers, because of the demands of modernisation, they have been renovated, been rebuilt, and disappeared.]
Therefore, are Singaporeans floating weeds? Are they the willow floss? Or are they boats waiting to dock?
Stepping into an Urbanising Singapore
The late 1980s was not only a time when Singapore's economy began to take off, it was also regarded as a golden age when the country's residents were able to become homeowners by working hard and living in peace and prosperity. Through the concerted efforts of its people, Singapore, an island nation with no natural resources, was able to achieve remarkable results both internationally and regionally. Yet at the same time, Singapore had also begun to more diligently construct a sense of a Singapore that belonged to “Singaporeans”, while also promoting a “national consciousness” and re-establishing sentiments toward and an intellectual focus on subjectivity.
In his poems, Liang often uses the lives of “Singaporeans” and their contexts in his poems. For example, in the poem <组屋族> [“HDB Clan”], he depicts a variety of people:
吾族用报纸来早餐
用抽水马桶马桶打未完成之哈欠
用信箱养鱼和雁及点单
用铁门来篱芭……[My clan uses newspapers for breakfast
Uses the flush toilet before we finish yawning
Uses mailboxes to raise fish and geese while making orders,
Uses iron gates to fence our balconies......]
The use of the phrase “my clan” in this poem creates a variation in its meaning, while also lending the poem its main subject, “HDB Clan”. The poem picks vivid and realistic images common to the lives of Singaporeans living in HDB flats and neighbourhoods to create a variety of impressions, allowing readers to experience a full sense of these experiences through a lively atmosphere. Later on, in the poem’s final lines, Liang writes:
谁管上帝住不住在二十五楼
我们住在二十四楼
没时间上去过[Who cares if God lives on the 25th floor
We live on the 24th floor
With no time to go up there]
These three, short lines are rich in meaning while leaving significant space for interpretation – they can be interpreted as references to residents living in peace, looking forward to their own modest lives. They could also refer to a flourishing metropolis where people have begun to clean up after themselves, but treat one another’s lives without the intimacy or enthusiasm that they used to in the days when they lived in kampongs.
Life and Heritage
While the end of the 1980s saw achievements in Singapore’s political, economic, and industrial developments, it also saw a period where old ways of life slowly began to change, languish, and die out. Take the poem <回声> [“Echoes”], for example. The Singaporean literary scholar Lin Gao argues that “‘Echoes’ is about cultural inheritance. Clearly, with the decline of tradition, what is regarded as ‘inheritance’ may have intention but lack power.” (Lin, 2014) This also lays the groundwork for Liang’s poem:
爷爷告诉我，昨日仍所在旧厦里
我铸好了钥匙，抚遍了铜门
竟寻不着钥孔的影儿[Grandfather told me, yesterday resided in an old mansion
I prepared the key and stroked the bronze door,
But I could not find the shadow of a keyhole]
This serves as a metaphor for events and practices of the past, previous experiences that the new generation has already perhaps no chance of finding and experiencing. Subsequently, the poem’s third stanza articulates that,
爷爷告诉我，苍龙还盹睡在古井里
[Grandfather told me, the dragon still sleeps in an ancient well]
This captures the tone of the entire poem, one that conveys to the reader a sense of depression as well as helplessness. This is also present in the poem’s final stanza:
爷爷告诉：哎，不要紧
遥远还馥郁在他的江西茶壶里
我揭开壶盖，轻轻地：喂
久久，才听到，小小的——唉[Grandfather told me, Ai, do not worry,
That which is far still resides within Jiangxi teapot,
I uncover the lid, and gently say, Hello,
Gradually, only then do I hear, a small, small——sigh]
“Hello” is a gentle greeting, while “Gradually” is followed by a feeble “sigh” as a response. This directly summarises Liang’s pessimism toward the perspectives held by that generation’s children toward “heritage” and “tradition”. The 1980s were a period of profound change for Singapore’s Chinese-medium education and schools. With the “merger” of Nantah from 1978 to 1980, as well as the atmosphere in society given the passage of Chinese-medium schools into history in 1987, those who cared about the Chinese language, especially intellectuals, would inevitably feel a great sense of sadness.
History Retires but Does not Fade, A New Era is Achieved
Addicted to Poetry is Liang’s first collection after a seven-year hiatus since In Fact I am in Love with Time. By then, his concerns regarding “tradition” and “nationalism” had begun to peter out, and Liang had become more proud of the development of modern Singapore. Since independence, Singapore's economy took off and Singapore became one of the “Four Asian Dragons”. Under continuous cultivation, the late 80s ushered in a bumper harvest, ensuring not only that people were well-fed and clothed, but that Singapore’s high level of development was visible. For example, in the poem <吐纳> [“Exhale and Imbibe”]:
蓝椅上的人。吐纳美国烟
红椅上的人
吐纳日本话
樟宜国际机场胃口好大
吐纳挂着东西南北气候的
脸[The person seated on a blue chair. Exhale, imbibe, American cigarettes
The person on the red chair
Exhale, imbibe Japanese speech
Changi International Airport has a big appetite
Exhaling and imbibing the faces hung on the climates
of east, west, south, north.]
With the presence of the best airport or airline in the Asia-Pacific region for many years, Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport have become a source of pride for Singaporeans.
The poem <地铁旅程> [“MRT Journey”] was written by Liang to celebrate Singapore’s 25th birthday but also to serve as a souvenir of his own 25 years of life. Herein, the MRT is a symbol of modernity, and one of its features is that it is always moving forward, linearly, as if it were a production line. He writes:
地铁向前
向不知回不回得来的远
组屋何田田
植于左 割于右
祖屋何恹恹
封以尘 锁以烟
迢迢在我自小就望不到的
你的童年兀自流连的
昨天的背面[The MRT moves ahead
To a distance from which I do not know if it can return
The HDB flats are among the fields
Planted on the left, cut on the right
The ancestral homes are sickly and weak
Sealed in dust, locked in smoke
A long way off, inaccessible since I was young
Your childhood continues to linger
On the back of yesterday]
Moreover, the MRT is also “fast”:
地铁再快
仍甩不脱长长的轨道
那年的我被你种诗 种词
种礼义种成连根拔起也甩不脱的自己
今天地铁架空种其霸气
在一种来得及遗顾不得忘的速度里
爸爸地铁将来收割甚么记忆[No matter how fast the MRT is,
It remains on a long track
That year, you planted poems and lyrics in me
Customs and roots have been pulled yet I cannot be rid of myself
Today, the MRT hangs in the air, its presence domineering
At a speed too fast to be forgotten
What memories will be harvested by Father’s MRT?]
Evidently, the speaker also feels it is not good to be too fast. He continues:
快步而上便是莱佛士也认不得的
莱佛士城
走慢一点便是被整个城市抛下的
我们[With such quick steps, even Raffles would not recognise
Raffles City
By walking a little too slowly, even the city would abandon
Us]
By walking too quickly, there is a point of departure, and also a destination, but by neglecting the surrounding scenery, is this truly a source of gain? Is it a form of loss? It is a matter of opinion. Regardless, the MRT has become one of the most iconic products of Singapore’s modernisation. Its emergence has not only changed commuter habits but also led to fast-paced ways of doing things.
Conclusion
Liang’s use of words is rich with emotion, while his command of language is also brilliant. Liang can express deep meaning in concise verses that are often thought to be lengthy. Though his poems have an end, they are endlessly meaningful. In the 1980s, Singapore was singing a paean of economic triumph, as well as a dirge to Chinese-medium schools. The old was changing places with the new, and people were adapting to life in HDB flats from their past in kampongs. On one hand, “Singaporeans” achieved a form of “subjectivity” but on the other hand, many traditions were gradually lost. If one is forced to choose between one and the other, perhaps no one can win or lose. There can only be those who can continue to fall in love with time.
Works cited
Chow, Pei Ying. National consciousness, cultural identity, and youth culture: revisiting the xinyao of Liang Wern Fook and Wong Hong Mok. Master's thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 2022.
Liang, Wern Fook. Addicted to Poetry. Singapore. Yunnan Garden House. 1996.
Liang, Wern Fook. Filled with Cooling Songs. Singapore. Wenxue Shuji. 1985.
Liang, Wern Fook. Idle Time. Singapore. SNP Publishing. 1997.
Liang, Wern Fook. In Fact I am in Love with Time. Singapore. Xinqing Gongzuoshi. 1989.
Lin, Gao. “Who hears wherever’s echoes: Reading Liang Wern Fook’s ‘Echoes’”. Author’s Blog. 21 January 2014. Web. 8 February 2023.
