散文佳作108篇 第64期:A Visit with the Folks 探訪故親

探訪故親

periodically i go back to a churchyard cemetery on the side of an Appalachian hill in northernVirginia to call on family elders. it slows the juices down something marvelous.

弗吉尼亞北部阿巴拉契亞山脈的一個小山坡上， 有一處教堂墓地。每隔一段日子，我都要回到那里探望先輩們。這種 探訪有一種奇妙的力量，能讓人的心境歸于平靜。

they are all situated right behind an imposing brick church with a tall square brick bell-towerbest described as honest but not flossy. some of the family elders did construction repair workon that church and some of them, the real old timer, may even have helped build it ,but icounldn't swear to that because it's been there a long, long time.

先輩們的墓地全都在一座莊嚴醒目的磚石教堂后面。高高聳立的方形鐘樓也是磚石結(jié)構(gòu)的，說它“樸實而不粗糙”在再合適不過了。家族先輩中有些參與過教堂的修繕工作，另一些人，那些真正的老祖宗們，或許還為教堂的建造出過力，但對此我可沒有絕對把握，因為教堂建在那里畢竟已經(jīng)很久很久了。

The view, especially in early summer, is so pleasing that it’s a pity they can’t enjoy it. Wildroses blooming on fieldstone fences, fields white with daisies, that soft languorous air turningthe mountains pastel blue out toward the West.

那兒的景色非常怡人，尤其是在初夏時節(jié)。石柵籬上的野薔薇競相開放，田野被雛菊染成一片白色，微醺的和風給群山抹上淡淡的藍色，一直向西邊延伸而去。先輩們無法欣賞這些美景，真是一樁憾事。

The tombstones are not much to look at. Tombstones never are in my book, but they do helpin keeping track of the family and, unlike a family, they have the virtue of never chafing at you.

那些墓碑倒是沒什么看的。在我看來，墓碑從來就沒有什么好看的。但它們確實有助于尋根問祖，而絕不會像現(xiàn)在的家人，總跟你嘮叨個沒完。

This is not to say they don’t talk after a fashion. Every time I pass Uncle Lewis’s I can hear itsay, “Come around to the barber shop, boy, and I’ll cut that hair.” Uncle Lewis was a barber. Heleft up here for a while and went to the city. Baltimore. But he came back after the end. Almostall of them came back finally, those that left, but most stayed right here all along.

但這兒并不是說他們總是“一聲不吭”。每次走過劉易斯大叔的墓前，我都能聽見這樣的話：“回頭到理發(fā)店來，孩子，我給你剪剪頭。”劉易斯大叔是個理發(fā)的，有一段時間他曾離開家鄉(xiāng)，到大都市巴爾的摩謀生，但最后還是回來了。幾乎所有的人，我是說那些離開過的人們，最終都回來了，但大多數(shù)人——一輩子都呆在這里。

Well, not right here in the churchyard, but out there over the fields, two, three, four milesaway. Grandmother was born just over that rolling field out there near the woods the year theCivil War ended, lived most of her life about three miles out the other way there near themountain, and has been right here near this old shade tree for the past 50 years.

對了，“這里”當然不是指這片墓地，而是鄉(xiāng)間那邊，離墓地二三英里或三四英里的地方。內(nèi)戰(zhàn)結(jié)束那年，祖母就出生在樹林子附近那片起伏不平的地頭。她大半輩子都在離林子大約三英里的大山邊生活，如今安躺在這棵綠蔭如蓋的老樹下也有50年了。

We weren’t people who went very far. Uncle Harry, her second child, is right beside her. Acarpenter. He lived 87 years in these parts without ever complaining about not seeing Paris. Toget Uncle Harry to say anything, you have to ask for directions.

先輩們都不大出遠門兒。就拿哈里大伯來說吧，他是祖母的二兒子，就葬在她的墓旁。他是個木匠，一輩子87年都在這一帶度過，從未抱怨過自己沒去過巴黎，見識見識外面的世界。要想讓哈里大伯開口說點什么，你得向他問路才行。

“Which way is the schoolhouse?” I ask, though not aloud of course.

“去學堂走哪條路呀?”我問道，當然聲音不大。

“Up the road that way a right good piece,” he replies, still the master of indefinite navigationwhom I remember from my boyhood.

“沿那條道一直走就行，還得走好一陣子呢。”他回答道。在我兒時的記憶中，他一直就是這個樣子，總是那副好給別人之路卻又指不清的含糊口氣。

It’s good to call on Uncle Lewis, grandmother and Uncle Harry like this. It improves yourperspective to commune with people who are not alarmed about the condition of NATO orwhining about the flabbiness of the dollar.

像這樣探訪劉易斯大叔、祖母和哈里大伯，感覺真好。他們既不會因為北約現(xiàn)狀而憂心忡忡，又不會因為美元疲軟而牢騷滿腹，同這樣的人傾心交談能使你更加明察事理。

The elders take the long view. Of course, you don’t want to indulge too extensively in thatlong a view, but it’s useful to absorb it in short doses. It corrects the blood pressure and putsthings in a more sensible light.

先輩們大都看得開，想得遠。當然，你并不想沉迷于用太長遠的目光去看問題，但偶爾合理地用上一次卻大有裨益。這樣可以使你心平氣和，更加理智地看待各種事物。

After a healthy dose of it, you realize that having your shins kicked in the subway is not thegravest insult to dignity ever suffered by common humanity.

學會適當?shù)匕涯抗夥砰_一點之后，你就會明白，在地鐵里被人踹了一腳并不算是普通人所受的什么奇恥大辱。

Somewhere in the vicinity is my great-grandfather who used to live back there against themountain and make guns, but I could never find him. He was born out that way in 1817—JamesMonroe was President then—and I’d like to find him to commune a bit with somebody of bloodkin who was around when Andrew Jackson was in his heyday.

就在這附近哪個地方埋著我的一個曾祖父。生前他依山而居，還造過槍，但我一直沒能找到他的墓。1817年他就出生在那里——當時的總統(tǒng)是詹姆斯·門羅——我極想找到他，好跟這位親眼目睹了安德魯·杰克遜鼎盛時期的親人好好聊上幾句。

After Jackson and Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, he would probably not be very impressedabout much that goes on nowadays, and I would like to get a few resonances off histombstone, a cool frisson of contempt maybe for a great-grandchild who had missed all thereally perilous times.

這位曾祖父生活在杰克遜、亞伯拉罕·林肯當政時期，又經(jīng)歷了內(nèi)戰(zhàn)，對時下發(fā)生的事兒可能不會有太大的感觸。但我仍想從墓碑中聽他講上幾句，哪怕他會對我這個沒經(jīng)歷過真正危難時世的曾孫表示出冷漠和不屑，會令我不寒而栗。

Unfortunately, I am never able to find him, but there is Uncle Irvey, grandmother’s oldest boy.An unabashed Hoover Republican. “Eat all those string beans, boy,” I hear as I nod at histombstone.

遺憾的是，我始終沒能找到他的墓，卻碰到了祖母大兒子歐維大伯的墓。他是個鐵桿胡佛派共和黨人。“孩子，把那些菜豆全吃了。”我朝他的墓碑點頭時，聽見他這么說。

And here is a surprise: Uncle Edgar. He has been here for years, but I have never bumped intohim before. I don’t dare disturb him, for he is an important man, the manager of the baseballteam, and his two pitchers, my Uncle Harold and my Cousin-in-law Howard, have both beenshelled on the mound and Uncle Edgar has to decide whether to ask the shortstop if he knowsanything about pitching.

這可是個意外的發(fā)現(xiàn)：埃德加大叔的墓，他埋在這里已有好些年了。可今天還是我第一次看見他的墓。我沒敢驚動他，因為他是個大人物，棒球隊經(jīng)紀人。記得有一次，他的兩個投手——我的哈羅德大叔和霍華德表姐夫，在投球區(qū)被對方連連安打得分，他只得決定去找游擊手，問他有沒有信心上場充當投手去投球。

My great-grandfather who made guns is again not to be found, but on the way out I pass thetombstone of another great-grandfather whose distinction was that he left an estate of$3.87. It is the first time I have passed this way since I learned of this, and I smile his way, butsomething says, “In the long run, boy, we all end up as rich as Rockefeller,” and I get into thecar and drive out onto the main road, gliding through fields white with daisies, past fencesperfumed with roses, and am rather more content with the world.

造槍的曾祖父的墓還是沒找到，但離開墓地的時候我卻發(fā)現(xiàn)了另一個曾祖父的墓。他的與眾不同之處就是只留下了3.87美元的遺產(chǎn)，這是我聽說這樁事后第一次從這兒經(jīng)過，我笑他的寒酸，卻聽見有個聲音在說：“從長遠看，孩子，到最后我們都會跟洛克菲勒一樣有錢的。”于是我鉆進汽車，穿過被雛菊染白的田野，經(jīng)過薔薇飄香的石柵籬，把車開到大路上。此刻，這對這個世界又多了幾許滿足。