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文/樊功生

院子里

狠狠嘬了口烟

掷在地上

脚碾了一碾

决定提前退休了

唉

几十年了

半个家似的... 

小女儿

大学又没考上

也没合适的工作

一年快过去了

着急

单位说可以顶替

便生了这念头... 

一阵大风

满院是枯黄的枝叶

-- 明天就有时间扫了

自言自语

苦笑一下

摇摇头... 

老旧的录音机在窗台上

懒懒地放着小曲儿：

落红不是无情物

化作春泥更护花

...

啷个哩个啷！

Falling petals

By Ken Fan

The backyard is 

overwhelmed with cigarette smoke,

He sucks the last butt for a deep inhale, 

Then casts it to the ground,

And steps on it a few times, forcibly.

A tough decision, indeed, yet is reached, 

To retire early. 

A few decades there,

Almost like another home...

The little one 

Couldn't make it to college, 

for the second time, 

And jobs are ever so hard to come by. 

Another year is gone,

All the anxieties.

The old man's company said: 

Children may fill as replacement for dad's position,

So comes the idea.

A gust from nowhere, that 

Has littered the yard with dry twigs and leaves.

-- I'll have time tomorrow to tidy it up, won't I? 

He murmurs and shakes his head uncomfortably, 

With some wry smile. 

An old tape recorder is playing a lazy tune:

-- Petals fall, sad and sentimental, 

-- Ashes then help nourish the blossom still. 

.... 

Ding dong... Ding ge dong...