清明後記

清明Qingming

清明時節雨紛紛，路上行人欲斷魂，借問酒家何處有，牧童遙指杏花村。  In the time of Qingming—it is always drizzling and misty. People on the path were being downcast. “Where could I have a drink?” The traveler asked. The shepherd boy pointed to the remote village in the deep apricot blossom.

Qingming: a period in the early spring. It is also one of China’s 24 Solar Terms. Ancient Chinese divided the circle of annual motion of the sun into 24equal segments; each segment was called a “jie qi” or solar term. It is also a holiday for people to sweep the tombs of their ancestors and to count blessing from ancestors. Family often get together during Qingming holidays.

時值清明，有些感傷，卻也帶著盼望。此時濕冷的天氣稍來了春天的信息，花在苞中蘊涵力量，準備綻放。 Qingming, a season that casts a shadow over the sky, is also a season that holds hope. The cold and wet of Qingming send words of spring: a flower storing strength in the bud is ready to bloom. 

這時，回家的路上，總是細雨紛紛，不禁令人想起杜牧的詩「清明」，詩中寫到的欲斷魂，大多的解釋是因為陰雨綿綿和對已故家人的思念，而使人神傷，但也有一說，此處的清明單指清明這個節氣，而不是清明掃墓，所以只是因天氣而令人感到不適，需要找個地方歇腳，暖和身體，除去寒氣。When I was on the way home on Qingming holiday, it was always raining and misty. The poem “Qingming” written by Dumu, a poet in China’s Tang Dynasty, came to my mind. The poem said the traveler was grieved because of the constant raining and a missing loved one. Another perspective is that the term”Qingming” only refers to the solar term, not a time for tomb sweeping. The reason why the traveler was depressed was the bad weather, in need of a place to rest and warm up, not the passing of family. 

然而，不論是天氣還是思親之故而引發的「斷魂」，眼前，有個能指出希望的牧童，猶如聖經中所說的「有好消息從遠方來，就如拿涼水給口渴的人喝。」(箴言25:25) 旅人的腳步因而多了一份踏實，心中的一壺溫酒，一盤小菜，一爐柴火，雖然還在遙遠之處，卻能望杏止寒，在魂銷之處繼續前進。However, whatever led to the traveler’s terrible mood, the shepherd boy pointing out the hope gave the traveler a sense of security. What the boy had done was just like what the Bible says “Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.”(Proverb 25:25) A pot of warm wine, a dish of drunk food and a fire for heating, although they were in the distance, eased the cold and wet, helping the traveler keep going. 

曾經我也有如此的經歷。冬日的雨又大又急，水浸濕了腳，褲子衣服無一倖免，手也凍僵，我像是走在漏水的冷凍庫裡，無處躲藏，但我想起前方的一家麵店，有熱呼呼的餛飩湯和火辣辣的辣椒醬正向我招手，當下，身上的水氣寒意也被煮沸，虛弱的步伐生出了速度，盼望的熱度驅使我邁開腳步。 I had a similar experience. The rain in winter was heavy. Everything on me were wet. My hands were frozen. It seemed that I was walking in the leaking freezer, nowhere to hide. But I thought of a restaurant that was not far away from me. The hot wonton noodles and spicy sauce were waving to me. At the moment, the wet was gone and weak steps were speeding up. The temperature of the hope was going up. 

不知你的「杏花村」是什麼呢？我們需要一個能激勵自己繼續前進的動力，如同我的一碗麵，就能驅走寒意。期望在每一個需要中，每個人都能發現自己的「杏花村」。  What is your “Apricot Blossom Village”? We need our own Apricot Blossom Village, something that can motivate us to go on our journey, like the noodles driving out the cold. Hope we can find our own “Apricot Blossom Village” whenever we are in need.