那年，我发现了植物的美德
作为同伴，他们从不
争论，他们从不要求太多，
他们不会在外待到零辰三点，
然后，来对你说谎说去了。。。

我无心处理
那忧伤苍老的仙人掌枝桠
甚至没有把它们搬到充满阳光的走廊
那里，它们肯定会生长的更好。
我给它们的，
只是怀着嫉妒泼下的水。
这就是全部，他们得到的。
我想知道他们是否在怀疑
我象哈姆雷特，夜以继日的
在演习谋杀，
把城市的垃圾和肥料堆，
当成可能的坟墓。。。

而事实是，一旦我允许它们
生存，它们将持续
给穷苦的人以恩赐：
香甜的空气，令人惊奇的花朵，
一种固执的典范。

Killing the Plants Jane Kenyon

That year I discovered the virtues of plants as companions: they don't argue, they don't ask for much, they don't stay out until 3:00 A.M., then lie to you about where they've been.... I can't summon the ambition to repot this grape ivy, of this sad old cactus, or even to move them out onto the porch for the summer, where their lives would certainly improve. I give them a grudging dash of water ?that's all they get. I wonder if they suspect

that like Hamlet I rehearse murder all hours of the day and night, considering the town dump and compost pile as possible graves.... The truth is that if I permit them to live, they will go on giving alms to the poor: sweet air, miraculous flowers, the example of persistence