往事只堪哀 A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose…

Perhaps the upcoming March 8th International Women's Day is having the universe's energy built up, I seem to be under the karma of extraordinary women these days.  First came my rendezvous with the Gertrude Stein quote 'A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose' while reading The Language of Flowers(book review in my previous post); it stung like a thorn before I bled wisdom.  Not sure if the screenwriter of The Iron Lady was inspired by Gertrude Stein at all but when Meryl Streep as Lady Thatcher delivered the powerful statement 'A crime is a crime is a crime', the line's firmness left a complex aftertaste.  I ruminated about values, one's free will and social awareness… for days.  When I sat in front of this floral covered wall with empty birdcages at a tea salon one weekend, I felt like coming out of the aviary but the enlightenment was that the space between the metal bars had always been wider than my body...

初中時著迷李後主的文采, ㄧ頭栽進華麗的異世界, 多年後斷斷續續的詞句久不久浮上心頭…





有回逛誠品, 翻看作家章詒和的回憶錄'總是淒涼調', 下意識就對上'往事只堪哀'. 深淺雖有別, 李後主與章詒和皆是歷史悲劇的犧牲者, 他倆的咏嘆有沈痛原由, 處於太平盛世的我若哼哼唧唧, 可能連自己都要翻白眼: '沒事兒找事兒, 活得不耐煩了你?!' 不過地球資源愈來愈少, 人口愈來愈多, 日子只會更難過是不爭的事實, 所以承認生活中有淡淡的哀傷… 是不是比強顏歡笑來得健康呢? 週末LKㄧ家喝午茶, 對著茶沙龍整面描花疊鳥籠的空牆忍不住想起:


往事只堪哀, 對景難排.
秋風庭院蘚侵階, 一任珠簾閒不捲, 終日誰來.


金劍已沉埋, 壯氣蒿萊.
晚涼天淨月華開, 想得玉樓瑤殿影, 空照秦淮.

To center one's life begins with the organization of her library… I found two of my all time favorite children's books, Eloise The Ultimate Edition and The Way Things Work.  I saved them for years in anticipation of motherhood.  As Fate has it, I only have a little boy(at least, for now or at least he decides to be a boy for now :) There is no risk yet of creating a spoiled princess although my son is far more interested in deconstructionism than the functioning of anything…

搬到哪我都死抱著幾本書不放, 真想不開呀… 整理出兩部厚重的繪本Eloise The Ultimate Edition和The Way Things Work, 忍不住哈哈大笑!!! 原來年少時那麼浪漫, 小小年紀已為將來當媽媽打算: 生女兒要寵愛成刁蠻公主唸Eloise給她聽, 生兒子要教他早早自立學習The Way Things Work機械工程原理, 望兒女成龍成鳳人情之常但不免是父母ㄧ廂情願, 有擔當的人期許自己就好, 別把完成夢想的壓力寄託下ㄧ代.

Who doesn't love Eloise though?  She might not be one of those little girls lining up in queue to get Lady Thatcher's autographs during intermission at the ballet and declaring her ambition of becoming the prime minister when asked.  I can totally see Eloise still finding her own map of life after numerous trial and error with a good laugh.

自小少年老成, 是個沈靜敏感的孩子, 長大後偏偏喜歡調皮搗蛋的Eloise, 也愛天馬行空的小豬Olivia(這繪本還留在舊金山的儲藏室… T_T), 可能她們的古靈精怪反應我內心的渴望吧?

Everyone wants his or her life to mean something but most of us watch while we ponder what that something can be, the armchairs that we sit on going up in flames when idealism clashes reality.  It is the TIME to review The Way Things Work… between pressure power and working with waves I might just discover the way life works :)

心癢癢想跑電影院再次欣賞The Iron Lady… 柴契爾夫人的政治生涯充滿爭議衝突, 謀略手腕敬畏與驚懼交加. 電影讓我深深感動的除了Meryl Streep富震撼力的演繹, 還有種種細節烘托的諷刺疑問… 如柴契爾先生當年向年輕的瑪格麗特求婚時, 這位力爭上游政治新星高呼: "我無法當ㄧ般定義的賢妻良母, 我的人生不可受限於燒飯洗衣帶孩子, 生命不可終結在清茶杯等瑣事裏… " 而年老記憶衰退時, 住南非的兒子來電告知無法與母親團聚, 如同天下所有寵溺敗兒的慈母, 柴契爾夫人忙替愛子找藉口: "沒關係, 他住的遠嘛..."  電影尾聲, 清空丈夫遺物的柴契爾夫人用完早餐, 若有所思佇立廚房窗前遠望, 不假他人手, 輕輕沖拭茶杯… 那幕看得我熱淚盈眶, ㄧ位叱吒風雲的當權領袖展現果斷英姿是必然(否則人民支持他作啥?!), 然而當繁華謝幕後, 如風中殘燭的老婦還能實事求是, 保有尊嚴的度過雲淡風清的每ㄧ天, 這才是真正鋼鐵般的意志. 我也頓悟自己十數年來保有The Way Things Work這本機械工程入門書的原因: 事物的本質恆常, 改變的是人的心境, 見山是山, 偶爾重溫基本物理有助平衡善感心緒. 虛幻和真實之間的取捨拿捏, 便是人生有趣的地方 :)