청춘 –   사무엘울만 –

 

청춘이란인생의어떤기간이아니라마음가짐을말합니다.

장미빛의뺨, 붉은입술, 나긋나긋한손발이아니라

씩씩한의지, 풍부한상상력, 불타는정열을가리킵니다.

청춘이란인생의깊은샘에서솟아오르는청신함을말합니다.

 

청춘이란두려움을물리치는용기,

안이함을선호하는마음을뿌리치는모험심을말합니다.

때로는 20세청년보다도 60(90)세노인에게청춘이있습니다.

나이를더해가는것만으로사람은늙지않습니다.

세월은피부에주름살을늘려가지만

열정을잃으면마음이시듭니다.

고뇌, 공포, 실망에의해기력은땅을기고

정신은먼지가됩니다.

 

60(90)세든 16(19)세든인간의가슴에는경이에이끌리는마음,

어린애와같은미지에대한탐구심,

인생에대한흥미로부터아름다움, 희망, 기쁨, 용기

그리고힘의영감을받는한그대는젊습니다.

영감이끊기고, 정신이아이러니의눈에덮이고

비탄의얼음에갇혀질때

비록 20세의나이라도늙은것입니다.

머리를높이치켜들고희망의물결을붙잡는한

80(120)세라도인간은청춘으로남습니다.

                                            

 
* 사무엘 울만은 1840년에 태어나서 1924년에 죽음을 맞이했으니 그 당시의 60세는 고령이었습니다.  20세기 초 미국남성의 평균수명이 49세였던 것을 비교해보면 60세는 현재의 90세로 보아야 합니다.  왜냐하면 20세기 인류의 평균수명이 30년 정도 연장되었기 때문입니다.  그것을 감안할 때 이 시를 60세 대신 90세로 바꾸어 읽고 80은 120세로 읽으면 적당합니다.  그래서 제가 임의로 ( )를 만들어 감히 지금의 나이를 적어보았습니다.

맥아더 장군이 연합 총사령관으로 일본에 있을 때 이 시를 너무 좋아해서 벽에 붙여두고 읽었다고 해서 더 친근감이 가는 시이기도 합니다.  어려운 때일지라도 이 시를 읽으시고 힘내시기 바랍니다.

 

Samuel Ullman

 

 

YOUTH

 

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease.  This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty.  Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

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.  In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

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, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

 

 

Samuel Ullman (April 13, 1840 – March 21, 1924) was an Americanbusinessman, poet, humanitarian. He is best known today for his poem Youth which was a favorite of General Douglas MacArthur. The poem was on the wall of his office in Tokyo when he became Supreme Allied Commander in Japan. In addition, he often quoted from the poem in his speeches, leading to it becoming better known in Japan than in the United States.

 

Born in 1840 at Hechingen, Hohenzollern to Jewish parents, Ullman immigrated with his family to America to escape discrimination at the age of eleven. The Ullman family settled in Port Gibson, Mississippi. After briefly serving in the Confederate Army, he became a resident of Natchez, Mississippi. There, Ullman married, started a business, served as a city alderman, and was a member of the local board of education.

 

In 1884, Ullman moved to the young city of Birmingham, Alabama, and was immediately placed on the city’s first board of education.

 

During his eighteen years of service, he advocated educational benefits for black children similar to those provided for whites. In addition to his numerous community activities, Ullman also served as president and then lay rabbi of the city’s reform congregation at Temple Emanu-El. Often controversial but always respected, Ullman left his mark on the religious, educational, and community life of Natchez and Birmingham.

 

In his retirement, Ullman found more time for one of his favorite passions – writing letters, essays and poetry. His poems and poetic essays cover subjects as varied as love, nature, religion, family, the hurried lifestyle of a friend, and living “young.” 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. Through MacArthur’s influence, the people of Japan discovered “Youth” and became curious about the poem’s author.

 

In 1924, Ullman died in Birmingham, Alabama.
In 1994, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Japan-America Society of Alabama opened the Samuel Ullman Museum in Birmingham’s Southside neighborhood. The museum is located in the former Ullman residence and is operated by the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

 

 

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