9月18日

培養寬容
齊邦媛 ( 1924~ )

緊急警報一長兩短的急切聲後不久就聽到飛機沉重地
臨近，接著是爆裂的炸彈與天際的火光。我獨自躺在床
上，聽著紗窗的扣環在風中吱嘎吱嘎的聲音，似乎看見
石灰漫天灑下；灑在紫金山上中山陵走不完的石階上，
灑在玄武湖水波之間，灑在東廠街公園，灑在傅后岡街
家門口的串串槐花上，灑在鼓樓小學的翹翹板上。死亡
已追蹤到我的窗外，灑在剛剛扎上竹棚、開滿了星星似
的蔦蘿花上。

──選自《巨流河》

September 18

Cultivating Magnanimity
Chi Pang-yuan (1924 - )
English translation: Zhi Yue

Not long after the pressing sounds of the emergency siren,
a pattern of one long ring followed by two short bursts, I could
hear the droning of the aeroplanes approaching, followed by the
bombs bursting into flames in the horizon. I was alone in bed,
listening to the window screen buckling and rattling in the wind.
It was as if ashes and dust filled the entire sky and dispersed
across the earth. It rained on the neverending stone steps of Sun
Yat-sen's mausoleum and the ripples of Xuanwu Lake. It rained
on Dongchang Street Park and on the rows of desmodium flowers
decorating the house fronts on Fuhougang Street. It rained on the
see-saw of Gulou Primary School. The pursuit of death had come
to my window, raining onto the new bamboo scaffolding and the
morning glories that bloomed like the starry sky.

── from Ju Liu He (Mighty River)