随手摘抄。
达德利·兰德尔的《伯明翰民歌》。
英文课和历史课约好了一起开始讲美国民权运动，这是英文课上赏析一首诗。
连钢笔都没有用，拿着普通的中性笔用半吊子的日常体直接抄了下来。
因为太漂亮了。写得太漂亮了。读完的第一反应就是不管三七二十一先把这一段文字先抄下来。通篇很平淡的叙事，但是照样一枪瞄准心口，读完心里堵得慌。
抄的时候也很有意思，仿佛是这首诗故意的，为最后点睛之笔的一句，单独留出一张纸。单这句话看，就够令人动容的了。
我把全文附在了下面分享，但我没打算带翻译，虽然网上压根也找不到好的中翻。
因为这首诗和千千万万别的作品一样，要看原汁原味的。
每一种语言都是美的。在学习英语和法语的过程里，我一点点学会去站在那些外国人的角度思考，学着他们的逻辑说话。这么做的目的，是去学会发现美。他们特有的说话方式，奇怪的语法，复杂的倒装，以及中文里不存在的逻辑，这些种种的独特，赋予了每个语言不同的美丽。
学语言，其实是在探索不同的美丽啊。
Ballad of Birmingham
BY DUDLEY RANDALL
(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)
“Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?”
“No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Aren’t good for a little child.”
“But, mother, I won’t be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free.”
“No, baby, no, you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the children’s choir.”
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet.
The mother smiled to know her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.
For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child.
She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
“O, here’s the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?”