這是一首有關“選擇與勇氣”的勵志詩。據說人成長到一定時期,其勇氣的增長會與其年齡的增長成反比。Mary Oliver,美國詩人,1935年出生于美國俄亥俄州克利夫蘭市市郊。20世紀中葉,她同時就讀于俄亥俄州立大學和瓦薩爾學院。盡管她并沒取得一個正式的本科文憑,但關于她的詩歌研討會卻在各地盛行。她一生深居簡出,為人極其低調。迄今,她已出版了詩集、散文及詩論二十余部,這些作品使她獲得了諸如美國國家圖書獎、克里斯多弗獎等大獎,其中,1983年出版的詩集American Primitive(《原始的美國》)為她贏得了普利策文學獎。Mary Oliver現居住于馬薩諸塞州的普羅溫斯敦鎮。

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice—

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”

each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do—

determined to save

the only life you could save.

有一天,你終于知道

什么是你必須得做,并開始去做,

雖然你周圍的聲音

一直喊出

其各種糟糕的建議——

雖然整個房子

開始顫抖

你亦感到那條舊繩索

絆住了你的腳踝。

“修補我的人生!”

每個聲音都在哭喊。

但你并沒停止。

你知道什么是你必須得做的,

雖然風用它僵硬的手指

直往根基,

撬搗,

雖然它們的憂郁

著實可怕。

天色

已經很晚,這是個瘋狂的夜晚,

路上滿是倒下的

斷枝和石頭。

但漸漸地,

當你將它們的聲音拋在身后,

星星開始穿透云層

散發光輝,

一個新的聲音出現了

你慢慢

意識到,那是你自己的聲音,

它伴隨著你

伴你步步

深入世途,

決心去做

你唯一能做的事——

決定去拯救

你唯一能拯救的生命。