The Other House
David Wagoner (1926- )
As a boy, I haunted an abandoned house
Whose basement was always full of dark-green water
Or dark-green ice in winter
Where frogs came back to life and sang each spring.
On broken concrete under the skeleton
Of a roof, inside ribbed walls, I listened alone
Where the basement stairs went down
Under the water, down into their music.
During storms, our proper house would be flooded too.
The water would spout from drains, through the foundation
And climb the basement stairs
But silently, and would go away silently,
As silent as my father and mother were
All day and during dinner and after
And after the radio
With hardly a murmur all the way into sleep.
All winter, the frogs slept in an icy bed,
Remembering how to sing when it melted.
If I made a sound, they stopped
And listened to me sing nothing, singing nothing.
But gradually, finally April would come pouring
Out of their green throats in a green chorus
To chorus me home toward silence.
Theirs was the only home that sang all night.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 163.26.52.130
※ 編輯: PowLluimniz 來自: 163.26.52.130 (05/15 09:45)