【轉載】愛在心靈

  
  愛在心靈

轉載於蒙城華人網【有多少愛情可以重來？】 From Julia-Julia
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告訴我你愛的人是誰，我就會知道你是什麽樣的人。荷塞



約翰·布蘭查德從長凳上站起身來，整了整軍裝，留意著格蘭德中央車站進出的人群。

他在尋找一位姑娘，一位佩帶玫瑰的姑娘，一位他隻知其心，不知其貌的姑娘。十二個月前，在佛羅裏達州的一個圖書館，他對她產生了興趣。他從書架上取下一本書，很快便被吸引住了，不是被書的內容，而是被空白處鉛筆寫的批語所吸引。柔和的筆跡顯示出其人多思善慮的心靈和富有洞察力的頭腦。

在書的前頁，他找到了書的前任主人的姓名：霍利斯·梅奈爾小姐。他花了一番工夫和努力，找到了她的確切地址。她住在紐約市。他給她寫了一封信介紹自己，並請她回複。第二天他被運送到海外，參加第二次世界大戰。

在接下來的一年零一個月中，兩人通過信件來往增進了對彼此的了解。每一封信都如一顆種子撒入肥沃的心靈之土。浪漫的愛情之花就要綻開。布蘭查德提出要一張照片，可她拒絕了。她解釋道：

“如果你對我的感情是真實的，是誠心誠意的，那我的容貌如何並不重要。設想我美麗動人，我會始終深感不安，惟恐你隻是因為我的容貌就貿然與我相愛，而這種愛情令我厭惡。設想本人相貌平平（你得承認，這種可能性更大），那我就會始終擔心，你和我保持通信僅僅是出於孤獨寂寞，無人交談。不，別索要照片。等你到了紐約，你會見到我，到時你可再作定奪。切記，見麵後我倆都可以自由決定中止關係或繼續交往無論你我怎麽選擇……”

  Beauty Within

Tell me whom you love ,and I will tell you who you are.

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way1 through Grand Central Station2.

He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn t, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun 12 months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself absorbed3, not by the words of the book, but by the notes penciled in the margin4. The soft handwriting showed a thoughtful soul and insightful5　mind.

In the front of the book, he discovered the previous6 owner s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he found her exact address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to write him. The next day he was shipped to another country for service in World War II. 　　

During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile7 heart. A love began to develop. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She explained:

“If your feeling for me has any reality, any honest basis, what I look like won t matter. Suppose I m beautiful I d always be worried by the feeling that you had been taking a chance on just that, and that kind of love would make me sick. Suppose I m plain 8(and you must admit that this is more likely). Then I would always fear that you were going on writing to me only because you were lonely and had no one else. No, don t ask for my picture. When you come to New York, you shall see me and then you shall make your own decision. Remember, both of us are free to stop or to go on after that—whichever we choose... ”