思苦憶甜

在網上讀了一首詩，名為《Jammy  Days》作者：Chalkey (Geoff S) 2023。讀來淡淡哀愁，有種俱往矣的唏噓。英文用字簡單又朗朗上口，押韻之餘又充感音樂感，拙譯如下：

In my young  days of Bread and Jam

And  meat was often known as Spam,

And Beef was Corned , from something horned

And sell by dates had never warned !

我的年輕歲月有麵包和果醬常伴

有一種肉叫午餐肉

和一種從有角動物而來

卻從沒註明食用日期的鹹牛肉

When Butter was mostly  Margarine

And milk still had it's  top of cream,

Condensed in cans or boiled in pans

But Sterilized milk had very few  fans !

那時候牛油還叫馬芝蓮

牛奶上總有忌廉一層

凝練於罐或鍋內燙熱

消毒鮮奶卻知音難尋

Our two-colour Telly was black and white

With Epilogue at the end of night,

Channels were few and far between

And  Cowboys ruled the silver screen !!

電視顏色只有黑與白

節目尾聲於夜闌人靜

廣播頻道寥寥可數

銀幕是西部牛仔的領域

A fire of Coal and sticks and paper

Lighting it was such a caper

Huddled around it  Winters nights

Who got  closest, (quite a fight.) !

煤炭柴枝廢紙的火焰

混亂嬉笑中瞬間點燃

寒冬夜圍爐共聚

（爭崩頭者）靠得最前

Songs by  Beatles ,  Rolling   Stones,

No one heard of Mobile phones

Fashion clothes were still a perk

And once worn out, were worn for work !

披頭四、滾石的音韻

手提電話無人聽聞

一身時裝難得裝潢

破了爛了又為工裝

These days I never buy that Spam

Preferring now to eat fresh Ham,

But would I go back if I could ?

You can bet your Bread and Jam I would !!

今時今日我不再買午餐肉

寧吃新鮮火腿鹹肉

如果可以我會否回到從前？

用你的麵包果醬打賭，我很願意！

這首詩把我帶回從前，如果可以回到那些日子，我會如作者那樣決斷要回去嗎？曾經讀過一本叫《Stumbling on happiness》，談到我們的大腦很會騙人，特別是回憶這件事，大腦很多時候會將想像和現實混而為一，於是產生一種浪漫化的懷舊傾向。

正如我看著這張三年前今日的照片一樣，為了迎接快要送到農田的菇糠，我花了幾天的時間將斜坡的雜草打除，然後用犁耙和鏟叉將雜草移到一邊，以備將來堆肥之用，掃淨落葉和草碎，才可以在水渠蓋鋪上帆布，這樣菇糠才不會掉到雨水渠、污染天然河道。打草看似容易，但打草機越背越重，打草時刀片割到硬地和石塊，回擊的反作力會震軟雙手，打到海芋汁濺到皮膚又痕又癢，最怕是雜草叢中藏著胡蜂巢，試過幾次打草時手腳刺痛，以為是擊起石粒木碎打到身上，怎知細看才見身邊聚了很多長腳胡蜂，嚇得我立即跑離案發現場。

是的，我懷緬自種自食、樹下沉思的時光，但汗流浹背、日曬如淋的日子也確實熬人。冬夜圍爐讀起來浪漫醉人，但沒有暖氣的白色聖誕我真的怕了。有人說，離開香港之後才發現香港的地位如此重要，或者重要的不是「香港」本身，而是時間和空間的距離感。