Where the Arrows Fell_经典赏析

Where the Arrows Fell

文章来源：未知文章作者：enread 发布时间：2014-12-22 05:09 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Where the Arrows Fell

V. Penelope Pelizzon

At the upturns¹ of your grin, the red beard

This year's begun threading itself with white.

"Each agéd hair a gift" -- kiss -- "from you."

You're joking, mostly. But in some deeper sense

It's true: we're married now, you've vowed

Your life and all your coming years to me.

Whatever other nuptial² rites³ we cast out

As too tribal⁴, not our style (the virgin

Gown, the given girl, the fertility-

Provoking garter), we assume we'll weather

Through the turning hairs, or their decline,

Together. And if we're successful, one of us,

Barring some unlikely twinned demise,

Must end without the other. That's why

I cried before our rustled-up, gum-

Chewing justice who kept calling you "Andy"

By mistake. You thought it was my normal mild

Hysteria, mixed with trying not to laugh.

(I did wonder whether it would count as legal

If he pronounced me the wrong man's wife.)

But it wasn't the Southern Gothic bridal

Sapped me, love; it was all I was consenting

To: the life ahead we hope will use us fully,

Wizening our bodies well as two liveoaks

Whose branches interlace fantastically

Before they fail. Half-felled

Myself, I stood below the courthouse chapel's

Fairy-lit take on the Bower⁵ of Bliss,

Facing past the plastic fern to the abyss.

Nothing bridges it. But you

Stood on its edge with me, grinning broader

Through your beard each time our tipsy

String-tied gentleman bluffly

Rechristened you. And seventy-five dollars

Later, on the streetcar toward our fancy

Lunch for two: "It isn't every groom⁶ who'd eagerly

Give up his name. That makes you ... Mrs. Who?"

By then, you'd driven my existential vapors

Off enough so I could laugh. And

In spite of the humidity, the trolley

Chuckling fast along its tracks stirred up

A cheerful draft. On either side the trees

Refreshed the street with sunshot shadows, so

We flashed giddily through alternate

Bright blinks and blacknesses. Somewhere

In the canopy⁷, a woodpecker

Uncorked his bubbling flute⁸. Time felt

Suspended, balancing between symmetric

Poles where gravity is countered by

Velocity⁹ as, years before, our bodies

Pressed together learned to take the hair-

Pin curves along a coastal¹⁰ cliff by gently

Leaning with the motorcycle's angle

Toward the road.

Then you turned to me

And, with a question, broke the spell. Remember

How I answered you? "I will. It's true. I am. I do."

点击

收听单词发音

1 upturns
n.好转，上升趋势( upturn的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Oscillators work great in trading ranges, where they catch upturns and downturns. 在横盘时振荡指标表现好，它们能抓住上涨和下跌。来自互联网

2 nuptial
adj.婚姻的，婚礼的
参考例句：
Their nuptial day hasn't been determined.他们的结婚日还没有决定。 I went to the room which he had called the nuptial chamber.我走进了他称之为洞房的房间。

3 rites
仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 )
参考例句：
to administer the last rites to sb 给某人举行临终圣事 He is interested in mystic rites and ceremonies. 他对神秘的仪式感兴趣。

4 tribal
adj.部族的，种族的
参考例句：
He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。 The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

5 bower
n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽
参考例句：
They sat under the leafy bower at the end of the garden and watched the sun set.他们坐在花园尽头由叶子搭成的凉棚下观看落日。 Mrs. Quilp was pining in her bower.奎尔普太太正在她的闺房里度着愁苦的岁月。

6 groom
vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁
参考例句：
His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。 George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

7 canopy
n.天篷，遮篷
参考例句：
The trees formed a leafy canopy above their heads.树木在他们头顶上空形成了一个枝叶茂盛的遮篷。 They lay down under a canopy of stars.他们躺在繁星点点的天幕下。

8 flute
n.长笛；v.吹笛
参考例句：
He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。 There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

9 velocity
n.速度，速率
参考例句：
Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。 The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

10 coastal
adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的
参考例句：
The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。 This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

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