第13章 To-morrow 明天

Mrs. M. B. Johnson is the authoress of "To-morrow," one of a collection of poems; entitled"Poems of Home Life."

A bright, merry boy, with laughing face,

Whose every motion was full of grace,

Who knew no trouble and feared no care,

Was the light of our household—the youngest there.

He was too young, this little elf,

With troublesome questions to vex himself;

But for many days a thought would rise,

And bring a shade to his dancing eyes.

He went to one whom he thought more wise

Than any other beneath the skies;

"Mother, "—O word that makes the home! —

"Tell me, when will to-morrow come? "

"It is almost night," the mother said,

"And time for my boy to be in bed;

When you wake up and it's day again,

It will be to-morrow, my darling, then."

The little boy slept through all the night,

But woke with the first red streak of light;

He pressed a kiss to his mother's brow,

And whispered, "Is it to-morrow now? "

"No, little Eddie, this is to-day:

To-morrow is always one night away."

He pondered a while, but joys came fast,

And this vexing question quickly passed.

But it came again with the shades of night;

"Will it be to-morrow when it is light? "

From years to come he seemed care to borrow,

He tried so hard to catch to-morrow.

"You can not catch it, my little Ted;

Enjoy to-day," the mother said;

"Some wait for to-morrow through many a year

It is always coming, but never is here."

作者M. B．约翰逊妇人，选自诗歌集《家庭生活诗》。

一个脸上洋溢着笑容的快乐男孩，

他的举手投足优雅而得体，

他的内心没有困扰和忧虑，

他是我家的光明——最年轻成员。

他还太小，这个小精灵，

烦心事根本不会困扰他。

但是很多天来一个念头出现，

给他闪亮的双眼蒙上了阴影。

他找到了一个他认为更智慧的人，

比天底下其他人更智慧的人。

“妈妈——”使之成为家的人，

“告诉我，明天什么时候到来？”

“现在差不多是晚上，”母亲说，

“该是你上床睡觉的时间了。

当你醒来之后，就天亮了，

那就是明天，我的宝贝！”

小男孩睡了一整夜，

在清晨第一缕阳光就醒来，

他吻了吻妈妈的额头，

悄悄地问：“现在是明天了吗？”

“不，小艾迪，现在是今天：

明天永远要过一个晚上才来。”

他沉思一会儿，很快又笑起来，

这个困惑的问题很快就过去了。

但是，夜晚的影子重又降临，

“天亮的时候就到明天了吗？”

仿佛想从未来的岁月借来时间，

无论如何，他也要抓住明天。

“你是抓不到明天的，我的小泰德，

好好享受‘今天’吧！”母亲说。

“有些人年复一年地等待明天到来，

明天总是会来的，但不会是现在。”