这是一首有关“选择与勇气”的励志诗。据说人成长到一定时期,其勇气的增长会与其年龄的增长成反比。Mary Oliver,美国诗人,1935年出生于美国俄亥俄州克利夫兰市市郊。20世纪中叶,她同时就读于俄亥俄州立大学和瓦萨尔学院。尽管她并没取得一个正式的本科文凭,但关于她的诗歌研讨会却在各地盛行。她一生深居简出,为人极其低调。迄今,她已出版了诗集、散文及诗论二十余部,这些作品使她获得了诸如美国国家图书奖、克里斯多弗奖等大奖,其中,1983年出版的诗集American Primitive(《原始的美国》)为她赢得了普利策文学奖。Mary Oliver现居住于马萨诸塞州的普罗温斯敦镇。

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,你终于知道

什么是你必须得做,并开始去做,

虽然你周围的声音

一直喊出

其各种糟糕的建议——

虽然整个房子

开始颤抖

你亦感到那条旧绳索

绊住了你的脚踝。

“修补我的人生!”

每个声音都在哭喊。

但你并没停止。

你知道什么是你必须得做的,

虽然风用它僵硬的手指

直往根基,

撬捣,

虽然它们的忧郁

着实可怕。

天色

已经很晚,这是个疯狂的夜晚,

路上满是倒下的

断枝和石头。

但渐渐地,

当你将它们的声音抛在身后,

星星开始穿透云层

散发光辉,

一个新的声音出现了

你慢慢

意识到,那是你自己的声音,

它伴随着你

伴你步步

深入世途,

决心去做

你唯一能做的事——

决定去拯救

你唯一能拯救的生命。