酷我-北美枫

[ericcoliu]

Reigning in My Memory

*Reigning in My Memory will appear in the February 2008 issue of CANADIAN STORIES, a literary magazine featuring family stories, personal experiences and memories of the past.



The rain is coming down heavily, splashing against the window and pounding the pavement. I sit by the window in my warm house, watching it fall in buckets. It is falling so forcefully that it is making the delicate branches of the rose flowers in my front yard bow low to the ground, many of their petals now lying scattered.

The wind is blowing now; it is not really all that strong, but chilly and penetrating. “Chilly springs bring pouring rains,” a popular Taiwanese saying goes. In Taiwan, once it’s spring, you never know if it’s the cold that brings the rain, or the other way around. In spring, cold and rain seem to be inseparable companions.

The weather man on the radio station says that a good two inches of rain will accumulate today, but I think this rain, though unusually fierce, will not last long. In Ajax, the sun comes in unequal measures; in Taipei – the capital city of Taiwan and the place where I grew up – the rain always stays, especially in late spring, the rainy season called the “Plum Rain Season” when it rains, rains, and rains constantly for about three to four weeks almost non-stop. Now, I live in Canada, and I am luckily spared this damply climatological phenomenon, but the rain already sticks in my memory, a constant backdrop to the row-upon-row of two-story attached brick houses where I spent my childhood.

The rain reminds me of how, as a child, I would sit by the front screen door that faced the main street and stare out into the rain. I enjoyed seeing people rushing along the sidewalk and pulling their coats over their heads in an attempt to avoid the forceful downpour, and watching the rainwater splashing back up in a dense spray as they trod over the puddled road; particularly, I enjoyed listening to the rhythmic, pata pata sound of the rain’s bombarding the road's surface. While I was sitting inside my warm house and watching these sights and sounds, it somehow made me feel safe and secure.

The rain also puts into my mind the smell of my mother. She always had her eye watchfully on the weather, ready at the first sign of rain to rush out and fetch the washing off the clothes lines. I can remember the way she smelled when she came in through the door way with two handfuls of clothes, damp and cold. It seemed to me that the rain had penetrated into her skin, her muscles, and her bones, depleting them of life and warmth.

I was mistaken, and the rain keeps falling down, without the slightest hint of letting up. The rhythmic, pata pata sound is reigning in my memory.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Reigning in My Memory

*Reigning in My Memory will appear in the February 2008 issue of CANADIAN STORIES, a literary magazine featuring family stories, personal experiences and memories of the past.



The rain is coming down heavily, splashing against the window and pounding the pavement. I sit by the window in my warm house, watching it fall in buckets. It is falling so forcefully that it is making the delicate branches of the rose flowers in my front yard bow low to the ground, many of their petals now lying scattered.

The wind is blowing now; it is not really all that strong, but chilly and penetrating. “Chilly springs bring pouring rains,” a popular Taiwanese saying goes. In Taiwan, once it’s spring, you never know if it’s the cold that brings the rain, or the other way around. In spring, cold and rain seem to be inseparable companions.

The weather man on the radio station says that a good two inches of rain will accumulate today, but I think this rain, though unusually fierce, will not last long. In Ajax, the sun comes in unequal measures; in Taipei – the capital city of Taiwan and the place where I grew up – the rain always stays, especially in late spring, the rainy season called the “Plum Rain Season” when it rains, rains, and rains constantly for about three to four weeks almost non-stop. Now, I live in Canada, and I am luckily spared this damply climatological phenomenon, but the rain already sticks in my memory, a constant backdrop to the row-upon-row of two-story attached brick houses where I spent my childhood.

The rain reminds me of how, as a child, I would sit by the front screen door that faced the main street and stare out into the rain. I enjoyed seeing people rushing along the sidewalk and pulling their coats over their heads in an attempt to avoid the forceful downpour, and watching the rainwater splashing back up in a dense spray as they trod over the puddled road; particularly, I enjoyed listening to the rhythmic, pata pata sound of the rain’s bombarding the road's surface. While I was sitting inside my warm house and watching these sights and sounds, it somehow made me feel safe and secure.

The rain also puts into my mind the smell of my mother. She always had her eye watchfully on the weather, ready at the first sign of rain to rush out and fetch the washing off the clothes lines. I can remember the way she smelled when she came in through the door way with two handfuls of clothes, damp and cold. It seemed to me that the rain had penetrated into her skin, her muscles, and her bones, depleting them of life and warmth.

I was mistaken, and the rain keeps falling down, without the slightest hint of letting up. The rhythmic, pata pata sound is reigning in my memory.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[ericcoliu]

雨中即景是台灣民歌手王夢麟的成名作。剛退役時，他曾和朋友一起開計程車，他發現計程車司機在下雨天真是神氣，於是寫下這首詼諧的歌：

「嘩啦啦啦啦，下雨了，看到大家都在跑。叭叭叭叭叭！計程車他們的生意是特別好。嘩啦啦啦啦！淋濕了，好多人臉上嘛失去了笑。無奈何望著天，嘆嘆氣把頭搖。唉！感覺天色不對，最好把雨傘帶好，不要等雨來了，哭喪著臉，大家又躲又跑……。」

每當下雨, 我就想起王夢麟的雨中即景和我母親身上的濕冷氣味。
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

雨中即景是台灣民歌手王夢麟的成名作。剛退役時，他曾和朋友一起開計程車，他發現計程車司機在下雨天真是神氣，於是寫下這首詼諧的歌：

「嘩啦啦啦啦，下雨了，看到大家都在跑。叭叭叭叭叭！計程車他們的生意是特別好。嘩啦啦啦啦！淋濕了，好多人臉上嘛失去了笑。無奈何望著天，嘆嘆氣把頭搖。唉！感覺天色不對，最好把雨傘帶好，不要等雨來了，哭喪著臉，大家又躲又跑……。」

每當下雨, 我就想起王夢麟的雨中即景和我母親身上的濕冷氣味。
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[星子]

谢谢分享！

回来一起探讨。
_________________

[[ANNA]]

谢谢分享！

回来一起探讨。
_________________

[ericcoliu]

Raining Buckets

Hearing the fierce sound on window panes,
I was sure that it came relentlessly.
It continued pounding for hours,
Covering the ground
With sheets of rain.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Raining Buckets

Hearing the fierce sound on window panes,
I was sure that it came relentlessly.
It continued pounding for hours,
Covering the ground
With sheets of rain.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[ericcoliu]

I've revised and renamed it.

Out alone in the winter rain,
Intent on giving and taking pain.
- Robert Frost
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

I've revised and renamed it.

Out alone in the winter rain,
Intent on giving and taking pain.
- Robert Frost
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[非马]

拜读.问好.

[[FFFFFF]]

拜读.问好.

[ericcoliu]

Thanks for reading my writing.

The Rain is pouring down now
There is something about rain
That reminds me of an ellipsis on a page …
Three dots indicate a longing, a falling
Into spaces unknown, untold
These spaces hit me with their silence
And make me desire the feeling of rain falling on my skin
The rain is dripping off the wall of my resistance to this life
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Thanks for reading my writing.

The Rain is pouring down now
There is something about rain
That reminds me of an ellipsis on a page …
Three dots indicate a longing, a falling
Into spaces unknown, untold
These spaces hit me with their silence
And make me desire the feeling of rain falling on my skin
The rain is dripping off the wall of my resistance to this life
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul