ChiCheng Hsu

Writer at SCT ltd co.

Please Have a Rest Hsu ChiCheng

Father is a real farmer
Who flings himself into farming
He regards field as his home
And couldn’t wait for the field to be fertile
He follows the plough, transplants rice seedlings, weeding and fertilizing
To cultivate a bumper harvest of rice from year to year
And to guarantee the cozy life of the whole family
He works day and night, without taking a rest
He is adrip with perspiration, face covered with dust
But he does not cry a single fatigue
All the family feel sympathy for him
“Please have a rest!”
But he seems not to hear it
And does not stop his work
When he was young the burden seemed nothing
But with advancement of his age the burden weighs
The family ask him to have a rest
But he turns a deaf ear
Till his later years, when he becomes weak
He still applies himself to farming
And the family are helpless
On the morning of August, 1979
O, the fateful moment
He hurried home from the field
And lied down in bed
The family found him abnormal
But he only replied: “I want to have a rest.”
And then he spoke no more
Is that “to have a rest”?
From that day on
He had a real rest
And what about the field on his heart?
It so happens that the paddy field in Taiwan sinks and slumps
And has a rest together with him

Woald of Poets 2014/3/6

中文原詩如后:

        歇睏一下    許其正

父親是個道地的農人

每天都把全副心力用在農事上

把田地當作他的家園

恨不得那些田地盡快肥壯起來

扶犁耕地，插秧種稻，除草施肥

培植出每年豐收的水稻

和一家溫飽的生活

整日連夜，休息一下都不

做得汗流浹背，土頭土臉

沒聽他喊過一聲累

全家人都為他不忍

「歇睏一下吧！」

他卻仿佛沒聽到

這樣不停地工作

年輕時沒什麼問題

年紀一大就漸漸顯得支撐不住了

家人勸他稍為休息一下

他卻總給當耳邊風

直到晚年，年老力衰

他仍然執意埋頭農事

家人真拿他沒辦法

就在1979年8月那一天上午

哦，命定的時刻

他從田地裡匆匆回到家

默默地往床上一躺

家人發覺有異，問他

他只回說：「歇睏一下。」

然後就不再言語了

何止是「歇睏一下」？

從那天起

他就休息了

而他念茲在茲的田地呢？

巧遇台灣稻田的沒落

也漸漸跟著他休息了