Lo Ta-yu: My Wonder Years

My Wonder Years

Lyricist: Lo Ta-yu (also known as Luo Dayou)
Composer: Lo Ta-yu
Singer: Lo Ta-yu

On the Yongshuh by the pond, (1)
in summer days cicadas carolling.
On the swing by the playground,
only butterflies resting.
Teacher’s chalk squeaking
on the blackboard relentlessly.
Always waiting for my classes
to end, so for my school day,
‘n’ eager to have fun games
in my wonder years.

The community store full of goods
yet no penny in my pockets.
Wondering if it’s Shiro Zhuge
or the Gang of Devils (2)
who seized the sword in the end.
Wondering why the girl
in the next classroom
hasn’t yet passed by my window.
Snacks in my mouth,
comic books in my hands,
‘n’ that fancy girl for the first time
in my wonder years.

Always at the bedtime only then realized
a little of homework had been done .
Always after the exams only then realized
the books I should read hadn’t been opened.
The time is priceless, told my teacher,
and it can't be bought by any amount of gold.
Yet day after day, year after year,
wondering and wondering always kept.

No one knew why the sun always set
on the other side of the hill.
No one could tell
if there were beings supernatural
in the mountains.
I were alone on so many a day
to blankly stare at the sky.
So curious, so fantasizing
yet so lonely in the wonder years of mine.

Dragonflies flew in the sunshine
over the patches of rice fields of green.
Neither wax crayons nor kaleidoscopes
could draw rainbows in the blue skies.
When could I have a mature face
like those senior schoolmates?
Eagerly waiting for school holidays,
for the coming tomorrows,
‘n’ for my grown up in the wonder years.
O!  Day after day, year after year,
eager to be grown up in my wonder years.

(1) Yongshuh: Marabutan or India Laurel
(2) Shiro Zhuge: a title, a series of children’s comics published in Taiwan in 1985-63