I Trust You'll Treat Her Well

8/23/05 處暑                          

 

早上通勤的車流象爬一樣往前挪，把車窗打開，收音機調到鮑勃的節目解悶。鮑勃最能耍寶，每天早上都是東拉西扯無怪不談，從來不說正經話。今天搭檔艾米念了一篇文章，居然讓他安靜了半晌。雖然土豆石頭還小，但我聽了也忍不住抹眼淚。下麵就是這篇把鮑勃都感動哭了的詩。

 

I Trust You'll Treat Her Well

 

World, I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress… with two brown eyes...and a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.  I Trust You'll Treat Her Well.

 

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day at school.

 

And never again will she be completely mine...

 

Prim and proud, she'll wave a young and independent hand this morning, and say goodbye and walk with little-lady steps to the nearby schoolhouse...

 

Gone will be the chattering little hoyden who lived only for play, and gone will be the delightful little gamin who roamed the yard like a proud princess with nary a care in her little world.

 

Now, she will learn to stand in lines...and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called...

 

She will learn to tune her little-girl ears for the sound of school bells, and for deadlines...

 

She will learn to giggle and gossip... and to look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue.

 

Now she will learn to be jealous...and now she will learn how it is to feel hurt inside...and now she will learn how not to cry. 

 

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch while an ant scurries across a crack in the sidewalk...

 

Or will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew. 

 

Now she will worry about important things...like grades...and what dresses to wear...and whose best friend is whose.

 

Now she will worry about the little boy who pulls her hair at recess time... and staying after school...and which little girls like which little boys...

 

And the magic of books and knowledge will soon take the place of the magic of her blocks and dolls. 

 

And she'll find her new heroes. 

 

For five full years I've been her sage and Santa Claus...her pal and playmate...her parent and friend.  Now, alas, she'll learn to share her worship and adoration with her teachers (which is only right).

 

No longer will her parents be the smartest and greatest in the world. Today, when the first school bell rings, she'll learn how it is to be a member of the group...with all its privileges, and, of course, its disadvantages, too. 

 

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies don't laugh out loud...or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms...or watch ants scurry across the cracks in a summer sidewalk...

 

Today, she'll begin to learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. That "the group" can be a demanding mistress... and I'll stand on the porch and watch her start out on the long, long journey to becoming a woman.

So WORLD, I BEQUEATH TO YOU TODAY ONE LITTLE GIRL in a crispy dress, with two brown eyes, a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

 

I TRUST YOU'LL TREAT HER WELL