O YOU shaggy-headed banyan¹ tree standing² on the bank of the pond, have you forgotten the little child, like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you?

喂，你站在池边的蓬头的榕树，你可会忘记了那小小的孩子，就像那在你的枝上筑巢又离开了你的鸟儿似的孩子？

Do you not remember how he sat at the window and wondered at the tangle³ of your roots that plunged⁴ underground?

你不记得是他怎样坐在窗内，诧异地望着你深入地下的纠缠的树根么？

The women would come to fill their jars in the pond, and your huge black shadow would wriggle⁵ on the water like sleep struggling to wake up.

妇人们常到池边，汲了满罐的水去，你的大黑影便在水面上摇动，好像睡着的人挣扎着要醒来似的。

Sunlight danced on the ripples⁶ like restless tiny shuttles weaving golden tapestry⁷.

日光在微波上跳舞，好像不停不息的小梭在织着金色的花毡。

Two ducks swam by the weedy margin⁸ above their shadows, and the child would sit still and think.

两只鸭子挨着芦苇，在芦苇影子上游来游去，孩子静静地坐在那里想着。

He longed to be the wind and blow through your rustling⁹ branches, to be your shadow and lengthen¹⁰ with the day on the water, to be a bird and perch¹¹ on your top-most twig¹², and to float like those ducks among the weeds and shadows.

他想做风，吹过你的萧萧的枝杈；想做你的影子，在水面上，随了日光而俱长；想做一只鸟儿，栖息在你的最高枝上；还想做那两只鸭，在芦苇与阴影中间游来游去。