Bản tiếng Tây-ban-nha trên tạp chí văn học Plural (số 212, tháng Năm/1989):

Si pudiera vivir nuevamente mi vida.

En la próxima trataría de cometer más errores.

No intentaría ser tan perfecto, me relajaría más.

Sería más tonto de lo que he sido, de hecho

tomaría muy pocas cosas con seriedad.

Sería menos higiénico.

Correría más riesgos, haría más viajes, contemplaría

más atardeceres, subiría más montañas, nadaría más ríos.

Iría a más lugares adonde nunca he ido, comería

más helados y menos habas, tendría más problemas

reales y menos imaginarios.

Yo fui una de esas personas que vivió sensata y prolíficamente

cada minuto de su vida; claro que tuve momentos de alegría.

Pero si pudiera volver atrás trataría de tener

solamente buenos momentos.

Por si no lo saben, de eso está hecha la vida, sólo de momentos;

no te pierdas el ahora.

Yo era uno de esos que nunca iban a ninguna parte sin termómetro,

una bolsa de agua caliente, un paraguas y un paracaídas;

Si pudiera volver a vivir, viajaría más liviano.

Si pudiera volver a vivir comenzaría a andar descalzo a principios

de la primavera y seguiría así hasta concluir el otoño.

Daría más vueltas en calesita, contemplaría más amaneceres

y jugaría con más niños, si tuviera otra vez la vida por delante.

Pero ya tengo 85 años y sé que me estoy muriendo.

 

Nếu tôi được sống lại đời mình một lần nữa,

tôi sẽ cố gắng gây nhiều lỗi lầm hơn.

Tôi sẽ không cố gắng sống quá hoàn hảo, mà sẽ sống thoải mái hơn.

Tôi sẽ ngốc nghếch hơn rất nhiều so với bây giờ. Thật vậy,

tôi sẽ xem rất ít điều trên đời là nghiêm trọng.

Tôi sẽ ít sạch sẽ hơn.

Tôi sẽ bạt mạng hơn, sẽ du lãm nhiều hơn, sẽ chiêm ngưỡng

nhiều hoàng hôn hơn, sẽ trèo lên nhiều ngọn núi hơn, sẽ bơi qua nhiều con sông hơn.

Tôi sẽ đi nhiều hơn để viếng những nơi tôi chưa từng đến, sẽ ăn

nhiều kem hơn và ít đậu hơn, sẽ gặp nhiều điều phiền toái

có thực hơn, ít điều phiền toái tưởng tượng hơn.

Tôi đã là một trong những kẻ sống thận trọng và không ngừng tạo tác

trong từng giây phút của đời mình; hiển nhiên tôi đã có những khoảnh khắc hân hoan.

Nhưng nếu được sống lại một lần nữa tôi sẽ cố gắng chỉ sống toàn những khoảnh khắc tuyệt vời.

Xin nhớ rằng cuộc sống được tạo nên chỉ bằng những khoảnh khắc;

đừng để vuột mất giây phút hiện tại này.

Tôi đã là một trong những kẻ chưa bao giờ đi bất cứ nơi nào mà không mang theo ống nhiệt kế,

một bình nước nóng, một chiếc ô và một cái dù.*

Nếu tôi được sống lại một lần nữa, tôi sẽ đi đó đi đây nhẹ nhàng hơn.

Nếu tôi được sống lại một lần nữa, tôi sẽ bắt đầu đi chân trần từ ngày lập xuân

và sẽ đi mãi cho đến tàn thu.

Tôi sẽ chơi với vòng đu quay nhiều hơn, sẽ ngắm nhiều bình minh hơn

và đùa giỡn với nhiều trẻ em hơn, nếu một lần nữa tôi lại thấy cuộc đời trải ra trước mặt.

Nhưng tôi đã tám mươi lăm và tôi biết rằng tôi đang chết.

Bài tuỳ bút của Don Herald trên tạp chí Reader's Digest (số tháng Mười, 1953):

Of course, you can't unfry an egg, but there is no law against thinking about it.

If I had my life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes. I would relax. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I know of very few things that I would take seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would go more places. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less bran.

I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary troubles. You see, I have been one of those fellows who live prudently and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments. But if I had it to do over again, I would have more of them - a lot more. I never go anywhere without a thermometer, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had it to do over, I would travel lighter.

It may be too late to unteach an old dog old tricks, but perhaps a word from the unwise may be of benefit to a coming generation. It may help them to fall into some of the pitfalls I have avoided.

If I had my life to live over, I would pay less attention to people who teach tension. In a world of specialization we naturally have a superabundance of individuals who cry at us to be serious about their individual specialty. They tell us we must learn Latin or History; otherwise we will be disgraced and ruined and flunked and failed. After a dozen or so of these protagonists have worked on a young mind, they are apt to leave it in hard knots for life. I wish they had sold me Latin and History as a lark.

I would seek out more teachers who inspire relaxation and fun. I had a few of them, fortunately, and I figure it was they who kept me from going entirely to the dogs. From them I learned how to gather what few scraggly daisies I have gathered along life's cindery pathway.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted a little earlier in the spring and stay that way a little later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I would shoot more paper wads at my teachers. I would have more dogs. I would keep later hours. I'd have more sweethearts. I would fish more. I would go to more circuses. I would go to more dances. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds. I would be carefree as long as I could, or at least until I got some care- instead of having my cares in advance.

More errors are made solemnly than in fun. The rubs of family life come in moments of intense seriousness rather that in moments of light-heartedness. If nations - to magnify my point - declared international carnivals instead of international war, how much better that would be!

G.K. Chesterton once said, "A characteristic of the great saints is their power of levity. Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly. One 'settles down' into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a gay self-forgetfulness. A man falls into a 'brown study'; he reaches up at a blue sky."

In a world in which practically everybody else seems to be consecrated to the gravity of the situation, I would rise to glorify the levity of the situation. For I agree with Will Durant that "gaiety is wiser than wisdom."

I doubt, however, that I'll do much damage with my creed. The opposition is too strong. There are too many serious people trying to get everybody else to be too darned serious.

Trích từ bài nghiên cứu của Benjamin Rossen, "Who Would Pick More Daisies?":

The poem is most commonly attributed to Nadine Stair, generally said to be an 85 year old resident of Louisville, Kentucky when she wrote the poem.

 

The earliest verifiable publication attributed to her can be found in the Association for Humanistic Psychology Newsletter of July 1975. In 1978 a very similar version appeared in the Family Circle, issue, from which one line had been dropped (I would take more trips.). Neither of these can have been the earliest versions bearing her name. Some versions attributed to Nadine Stair contain elements from higher in the chain of plagiarism which are not found in the AHP Newsletter and Family Circle versions, yet do contain some elements only found in the AHP Newsletter and Family Circle versions and later versions in this chain. It is likely that a sixth unknown version, UKV6, exists. This may have been a draft, notebook or the diary of Nadine Stair (if she indeed exists). This version introduces elements such as "I would dare to make more mistakes" (instead of "try"); "I would take fewer things seriously" (instead of "... very few things ...") and the word "perhaps" in the phrase "I would perhaps have more actual troubles".

 

The Family Circle version was cited by Sandra Martz, editor and publisher of the Papier-Mache Press, in the anthology, If I Had My Life to Live Over I Would Pick More Daisies, published in 1992. This is a popular book and has done much to establish the general acceptance of Nadine Stair as the ostensible author.

 

Papier-Mache Press contacted Family Circle in 1992 for confirmation of authorship, however Family Circle no longer had records going back to 1978. Papier-Mache Press then commissioned a professional searcher to find Nadine Stair prior to publication of the anthology and simultaneously initiated a copyright search through the Library of Congress for registration by the author (copy of search results on file; B.R.). Nadine Stair could not be located. It is worth noting here that the edition published by Sandra Martz is identical to her source document; the only example of strict editorial discipline I have encountered in this research.

 

In 1993, Joannie Liesenfelt, of Illinois, an amateur writer, investigated this matter. She was able trace a Laura Stair of Kentucky, who was not related to Nadine. Since Laura Stair had often been called by people looking for Nadine, she had done her own research and reported that Nadine was actually called Nadine Strain. Laura Stair is said to have spoken to Nadine Strain once on the telephone. Byron Crawford, a reported of the Courier Journal, is said to have traced a niece of Nadine Strain's, who reported the circumstances of Nadine's death. Ms Liesenfelt provided a copy of a death certificate showing Nadine Strain's date of birth as July 1, 1892, and date of death as November 20, 1988 in the town of Louisville, Kentucky (copy of death certificate and report on file; B.R.). I have not been able to confirm the contents of the report, nor contact the Laura Stair or Byron Crawford. E-mail inquiries sent to the Courier Journal have not been answered. If Nadine Strain is the author/plagiarist, she would indeed have been 85 at the time of the Family Circle publication. As far as I know, no one since has been able to find heirs or family members of Nadine Strain/Stair. Contact with an historical society in Louisville, Kentucky has produced no evidence. No known publication in either name has been authenticated.

 

Nancy (family name unknown) of Power Springs, Georgia, on her private home page, claimed, "I have a framed copy of this [poem] written in a copy of her [Nadine's] handwriting as she penciled reflections on a small brown lunch bag toward the end of her life...." I have been unable to corroborate these claims.

 

Nadine Strain is certain to have existed but may have nothing to do with this text. It is possible that Nadine Stair never existed.

 

We can state confidently that the version published by Family Circle in 1978 was not Nadine Stair's original work (I shall continue to use the name Stair since no published versions known to me attribute the poem to a Nadine Strain, and the report by Liesenfelt has not been confirmed with independent evidence). Since the earliest material containing significant portions of Nadine Stair's text is found in Don Herold's 1953 version, a yet earlier version by Nadine Stair (later to be plagiarized by Don Herold, which seem unlikely) would have been written by her when she was early middle aged or younger, assuming that Nadine Stair was 85 in 1978. This is improbable given the contents of the poem. Furthermore, content analysis of text markers shows that the Nadine Stair version must have split off the chain of plagiarism after the attribution had been made to an unknown friar but probably before the attribution had changed to Brother Jeremiah.

 

Ram Dass, whose real name is Richard Alpert, in Journey of Awakening: A Meditator's Guidebook (1978, republished 1990), Bantam Books, page 5 in the 1990 edition, cited the prose and attributed it to Nadine Stair. Dass acknowledged a prior source: When I Relax I Feel Guilty, edited by Tim Hansel (1979), David C. Cook Publishing Co.. Content analysis shows that this version was based on the Family Circle publication. Of the text markers studied some changes were introduced, such as the phrase "I would dare make more mistakes next time" which becomes "I'd like to make more mistakes next time" (of which that one was a good start - how silly can you get?).

 

In 1984 Rick Fields et al., of New Age Journal reprinted a version in “Chop Wood Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life”, page 287, also attributed to Stair. Content analysis shows that this version was copied from the version published by Ram Dass.

 

The text is also cited in The Three Boxes of Life and How to Get Out of Them: An introduction to life/work planning by Richard Nelson Bolles (1978, reprinted 1981), Ten Speed Press, Berkley; page 377 in the 1981 edition. This version, although attributed to Nadine Stair, contains many text markers belonging to the branch of plagiarism attributed to an unknown friar, such as "I would do more walking..." and "aspirin", among others which are not present in the Stair branch of the chain. It is possible that Bolles obtained the text from a version which attributed it to an unknown friar, but later - having seen apparently authoritative sources attributing it to Nadine Stair - changed the attribution without changing the text.

 

In 1989 Dr. Bernie Siegel reprinted a version attributed to Nadine Stair, in his book, Peace, Love, & Healing, published by Harper Perennial, pages 245-6. Disrespect for the original work is apparent here in the addition of spurious text to the poem, such as, "and if she had traveled with Bobbie, a tape recorder, an iron and a hair dryer." The wording is changed throughout the poem, always for the worse, especially the ending which hangs in a most unsatisfactory way. Line breaks that demonstrate no sensitivity to the rhythm of the work are introduced. Text analysis also shows that this version belongs to the sequence of plagiarism attributed to an unknown friar despite the attribution to Nadine Stair. However, Siegel acknowledged seeing "several different versions of the poem", and this anomaly may be the result of cut and paste work by Siegel.

 

In 1991 Anthony Robbins cited this poem in the self help book, Awaken the Giant Within published by Simon & Schuster, page 511 (1992 edition). This version seems to be copied from the Family Circle edition except for the inclusion of several markers belonging to an earlier series. For example, the line "I'd take more trips" is not in the Family Circle edition. See conclusions for an explanation of these anomalies. A number of unique alterations are present, such as "lived sensibly and sanely" becomes "was sensible and sane".

 

Another version was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul #1 edited by Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen, (1993), published by Health Communications, Inc., pages 280-1. This version is closely related to the Family Circle edition, although some minor changes and line breaks have been added by the editors.

 

Richard Edler, in the anthology If I knew then what I know now (1996), published by Berkley, pages 102-3, attributed the text to Nadine Stair. An unlikely story has been invented about the author, who is said to be 93 years old. Content analysis shows this version to be prior to the Family Circle version. For example, the word "prophylactically" is used by Richard Edler, which is an element introduced at the level of the manuscript UK3, but which is not present in the Family Circle version or later versions on that branch of the chain. It is possible that Richard Edler is in possession of the diary of Nadine Stair, or a draft made by her; in any case, a prior attribution to Stair.

 

We can now say that the chain is roughly as follows, not accounting for the branching and re-connects outlined above:

 

(1) Don Herold

(2) Anonymous

(3) Unknown friar (various locations)

(4) Brother Jeremiah

(5) Nadine Stair

 

[ . . . ]