石榴花
周领顺
大千世界，万紫千红;五彩奇花，争艳斗胜。名花有人攀附，野花招徕不屑。我却在不经意间瞥见一树红彤彤的石榴花，竟让我对这名花与野花之间之花，生出了一番感慨。或许她太过平常，童年至今，屡次相遇，竟不曾为其娇容所动。就是在这几日，爱怜却兀自生起。
六月初这几天，扬州的天气出奇地凉爽，颇有春暖乍寒之意。步行去学校，整整一个小时的路程，健身自不必说。路边的一草一木近在咫尺，多了亲密接触，而接触时还免不得产生些许思绪。随手捡一截干瘪的树枝，推着往前走，童年时学着拖拉机前进的突突声又在耳畔响起;张嘴衔一片树叶，蹩脚的口技还能多多少少再现童年时弄叶的玩姿。
每次步行，都能瞥见路边稍远处长着一棵树，好似结着泛红的果实。前两天路过时就光是那么想象：难道是一棵枇杷树结着生涩的果实?难道是人家扬州人司空见惯了所以看不上?难道是人们的文明水平提高了，竟放纵这好果子自在生长?管不了那么多，童年爬树偷果子的情形一时占了上风，乡间野趣原来就在这里。
为饱口福，绕绕路，多走它几步。可走到树下，不免怅然所望。原来是一棵开着红花的石榴树，花太小，远看模糊。我说呢，要是结着一树的宝贝，怎躲得过那些个“早起的鸟儿”呢!
既来之，则安之。我对着这满树的红花细细地打量。有的花，可谓怒放，绸缎般的“石榴裙”紧束在“细腰”之上;“细腰”之侧，总有那么几枚未及开放的花骨朵儿，似“红果”头饰扎在小姑娘的头上。咦?小姑娘害羞了吧，俏模样藏在婆娑的树叶里，却掖不尽“榴月”(农历五月的古时雅称)里满身的“石榴红”。悠忽间，未及开放的花骨朵儿变成了二胡上的琴轸，“石榴裙”化作了唢呐，就连黄色的花蕊，也变作了小喇叭若隐若现的穗饰。满树“乐器”，怎不闹春!
我对石榴花可谓真情所至。别人知其美却忽略其美，或因石榴花不像其他鲜花那么花香浓郁，或因石榴树是果树，石榴尚未结出，自然还未实现其最主要的价值。但不管是为着花香，还是为着未来的果实，说到底，都带着那么点功利。是功利之心，遮掩了对美的赏析。
石榴花虽不馥郁，却有着别样美丽，因不以花香媚俗，便不会招惹俗人折枝;石榴花是“红颜”，不仅未遭“天妒”，且总能颐养天年。
石榴花，你个小精灵，我可是读懂了你!
Pomegranate Flowers
ZhouLingshun
The world is ablazing brilliance of colors, a dazzling flourish of flowers vying for charm.While renowned flowers win sycophantic admiration, wild ones simply grow humblyunnoticed. Pomegranate flowers, neither a prized species anymore, nor a wildtype, evoked in me an unexpected sentiment of emotion after I, quite byaccident, caught sight of a pomegranate tree glowing red with flowers. Eversince my childhood, I have had different encounters with pomegranate flowers,and perhaps because they are much too ordinary I should have failed to betouched, not even once, by their charm. It is not until recently that I beganto generate an affectionate fondness towards them.
Early June ofthis year saw in Yangzhou an unusually cool temperature, giving one theillusion of a returning early spring. While I was walking to campus, theone-hour trip, which was definitely a good exercise, also brought closercontact with grass or trees adjacent to the roadside. As I was doing so,thoughts tended to arise involuntarily as well. I casually picked up a dry treebranch and walked it along as if I were maneuvering a tractor, its chuggingtune that I once imitated as a child reverberating in my ears once more. With atree leaf placed between the lips, I was still able to whistle it, in anawkward fashion, evidencing my remaining competence in this childhood game withtree leaves.
Every time Iwent along the same route, I could always glimpse a distance away from theroadside a particular tree, which seemed to be bearing reddish fruits. Two daysago, I passed by it again, doubts in mind. Was it a loquat bearing astringentfruits? Were the fruits so common that people had their nose turned up at them?Or, was it because people were better-nurtured now so that they pampered thefree growth of the fruits? Whatever the reason, I would not care. Childhoodexperiences of stealing fruits in the tree were prompting me to have one moretry. What a rustic delight in doing that!
To have a tasteof the fruits, I changed my usual route, which only involved a little extradistance to cover. However, I approached only to see a pomegranate tree bearingred flowers, which let me down a little bit. Being small, the flowers wereindistinguishable in the distance. No wonder. How could a fruit-bearing treehave kept away the “early birds”?
As the oldChinese saying goes, “Since I am here, let me stay and enjoy it”. I started toobserve the flowers intently. Some flowers, in their full blossoms, were silky “pomegranateskirts” as it were, going tight and slender in the waist. And the “slenderwaists” were normally accompanied to the side by a couple of flower buds, whichlooked just like “red hawthorn fruits” embellishing the hairstyle of a littlegirl. Why, are you shy little girls, blooming flowers? You were hiding yourpretty faces among rustling leaves, but you were not able to conceal all the “pomegranatered” bursting for this “pomegranate month” (an elegant name in the ancienttimes for the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar). Then in a blinking moment,it was as if the flower buds turned into the pegs of urheens, the “pomegranateskirts” into the suona trumpets, and even the yellow stamens or pistils intothe indistinct decorations of some hidden horns. With all these “musicalinstruments” in the tree, what a loud celebration it was for the arrival of thespring!
My passion forpomegranate flowers can well be described as true and genuine. Aware as otherpeople are of their beauty, they tend to turn a blind eye to it, probablybecause pomegranate flowers are not so scented, or because pomegranate treesare fruit producers and can only prove their principal value when fruits areborn. No matter whether for the scent or for the fruit, basically it isutilitarianism that cloaks people’s appreciative eye for the beauty of theflowers.
Pomegranate flowers,though not smelling sweet, are special in their beauty. As they never pleasepeople by scent, they do not incur picking. They are “beauties”, and are ableto grow elegantly and leisurely, free from “the jealousy of gods”.
Pomegranateflowers, you adorable little spirits, it’s me who knows you well!
(周领顺、Lus Shil 译)
