The love that dare not speak its name

Oscar Wilde 與 Edith Piaf 的墓相距不算遠，大約三四個blocks。

在一片走古典風的墓碑中，王爾德的墓碑特別醒目但不突兀。保護玻璃牆上有許多愛慕追悼者留下的口紅印。

王爾德是愛爾蘭人。1895年面臨同性戀指控時的法庭答辯今日讀來還是很讓人感動。120年前咧，那時西蒙波娃, Edith Piaf 連出生都還沒咧。

The love that dare not speak its name” in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art, like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as “the love that dare not speak its name,” and on that account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an older and a younger man, when the older man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it.

服了兩年苦役之後王爾德流亡法國，約三年後在貧困中過世。

• Wiki上Oscar Wilde的介紹。
• The Trials of Oscar Wilde
• The Official Web Site of Oscar Wilde