《瓦尔登湖·第十三章·室内取暖·House-Warming》第13节
“Never, bright flame, may be denied to me / Thy dear, life imaging, close sympathy. / What but my hopes shot upward e’er so bright? / What but my fortunes sunk so low in night? Why art thou banished from our hearth and hall, / Thou who art welcomed and beloved by all? / Was thy existence then too fanciful / For our life’s common light, who are so dull? / Did thy bright gleam mysterious converse hold / With our congenial souls? secrets too bold? / Well, we are safe and strong, for now we sit / Beside a hearth where no dim shadows flit, / Where nothing cheers nor saddens, but a fire / Warms feet and hands—nor does to more aspire; / By whose compact utilitarian heap / The present may sit down and go to sleep, / Nor fear the ghosts who from the dim past walked, / And with us by the unequal light of the old wood fire talked.”
注释摘要
这段诗出现在梭罗描述自己改用封闭式小炉灶之后的感慨里。他刚说过，炉灶不仅占据空间、散发气味，而且把火焰藏了起来，“我觉得自己好像失去了一位伙伴”。原因正在于，开放式壁炉里的火焰是活的面孔，劳动一天的人在傍晚凝视它的时候，可以在摇曳的光影里洗净白日积攒的粗粝念头；而铁皮炉子只提供热度，不提供凝视的对象。这首诗就是这一遗憾的延伸，也是整章取暖主题在观念上的最高…