A BIRD came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,—
They looked like frightened beads, I thought
He stirred his velvet head
Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim.
一隻雀鳥飛落在路上
不知我瞧見他的行蹤
他把蚯蚓咬成了兩半
活剝生吞掉了這傢伙
接著他喝了一滴露水
在就近一旁的草叢中
接著跳到一邊的牆上
為讓一隻甲蟲爬過去
他以迅速眼神橫掃過
很快看盡廣泛的大地
那雙眼看似顫動之珠
想必是他晃動鵝絨頭
像處危險般十分小心
我丟給他一塊麵包屑
而他展開雙翼的羽毛
划行回他更柔和的家
比較起槳分開的海洋
裂痕有過多銀色光芒
或蝴蝶正午離開岸邊
跳躍如無濺水的游泳
默想:
僅只是一隻小鳥,也有他的「人生」。他一舉一動,本來不必在乎別人的詮釋,他只按著自己的本性生活。生吃自然界賜與的小蟲,足夠餵飽他,而不需要人類加工過的麥子。上帝養活天空的飛鳥,就是最自然不過的事,飛鳥如何看人類呢?小鳥很優雅的讓甲蟲路過,是禮貌亦或是懼怕?或者,這是自然界關係和諧的展現?動物有時比人更有禮教啊!慵懶的午後,仍有生動活潑的蝴蝶,一起在陽光下飛舞,這是何等安祥的風景。整首詩,就是一幅畫,整幅畫,就是宇宙與永恆。「萬軍之耶和華啊,你的居所何等可愛!我羨慕渴想耶和華的院宇;我的心腸,我的肉體向永生神呼籲。萬軍之耶和華─我的王,我的神啊,在你祭壇那裡,麻雀為自己找著房屋,燕子為自己找著菢雛之窩。如此住在你殿中的便為有福!他們仍要讚美你。」(詩篇84:1~4)