媽媽的手
Night after night, she came to tuck me in, even long after my childhood years.
多少個夜晚，她將我擁入懷中，即使那時我已不再是孩子
Following her longstanding custom, she’d lean down and push my long hair out of the way, then kiss my forehead.
她一直有一個習慣，那就是倚靠著，撥開我的頭髮，然後親吻我的前額
I don’t remember when it first started annoying me — her hands pushing my hair that way.
我不記得她那樣弄我的頭髮是什麼時候第一次惹怒我的了
But it did annoy me, for they felt work-worn and rough against my young skin.
但是確實是惹怒我了，因為她帶滿繭皮的粗糙的手掃得我細嫩皮膚很不舒服
Finally, one night, I shouted out at her, “Don’t do that anymore — your hands are too rough!”
最後，一天晚上，我對她吼道："不要再那樣了，你的手太粗糙了"
She didn’t say anything in reply.
她只是默默無語
But never again did my mother close out my day with that familiar expression of her love.
但是從那以後，媽媽再也沒有用那種我熟悉的方式來表達她的愛了
Time after time, with the passing years, my thoughts returned to that night.
日復一日，隨著時光的流逝，我的思維總會回到了那天晚上
By then I missed my mother’s hands, missed her goodnight kiss on my forehead.
就是那一天，媽媽再也沒有用手撫摸我，再也沒有在我的前額留下晚安之吻了
Sometimes the incident seemed very close, sometimes far away.
有時候這種感覺如此之近，有時候卻遙不可及
But always it lurked, in the back of my mind.
但是它始終埋藏在我心裡
Well, the years have passed, and I’m not a little girl anymore.
時光飛逝，我再也不是個小女孩了
Mom is in her mid-seventies, and those hands I once thought to be so rough are still doing things for me and my family.
媽媽現在也已經七十中旬了，那雙我曾經覺得粗糙的是仍然在為我和我的家庭忙碌著
She’s been our doctor, reaching into a medicine cabinet for the remedy to calm a young girl’s stomach or soothe the boy’s scraped knee.
她已經成為我們家的家庭醫生了，她總是會走到醫藥櫃幫小女孩拿胃藥或者幫小男孩拿處理膝蓋傷口的藥
She cooks the best fried chicken in the world... gets stains out of blue jeans like I never could...
她能做出世界上最美味的炸雞，能幫我清理掉我從來不能夠清理的牛仔褲上的汙漬
Now, my own children are grown and gone.
現在，我自己的孩子長大了，也離開我的身邊了
Mom no longer has Dad, and on special occasions, I find myself drawn next door to spend the night with her.
媽媽沒有了爸爸的陪伴，所以在一些特殊的情況下，我也會花一整晚陪在她身邊
So it was late on Thanksgiving Eve, as I slept in the bedroom of my youth,
所以因為感恩節的前夕已經太晚了，我就在我幼時的床上睡著了
a familiar hand hesitantly run across my face to brush the hair from my forehead.
那雙熟悉的手撫過我的臉頰，撥開了我前額的頭髮
Then a kiss, ever so gently, touched my brow.
之後吻了下去，輕輕地摸了摸我的眉
In my memory, for the thousandth time, I recalled the night my young voice complained,
在我的記憶之中，有幾千次，我一直會會想起我抱怨的那天晚上
“Don’t do that anymore — your hands are too rough!”
不要再摸我了——你的手太粗糙了
Catching Mom’s hand in hand, I blurted out how sorry I was for that night.
緊握著媽媽的手，我毫不猶豫地告訴她我對那天晚上的事情感到多麼地抱歉
I thought she’d remember, as I did. But Mom didn’t know what I was talking about.
我以為她和我一樣都記著那天的事，但是媽媽卻不明白我在說什麼
She had forgotten — and forgiven — long ago.
她已經忘了——原諒我了——在很久以前
That night, I fell asleep with a new appreciation for my gentle mother and her caring hands.
那天晚上，我重新感受了我善良的媽媽的愛還有她關愛的撫摸
And the guilt that I had carried around for so long was nowhere to be found.
而我那困擾了我多年的罪惡感也不復存在。
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