莫待花谢时

Never Wait too Long

莫待花谢时

Each spring brings a new blossom of wildflowers in the ditches along the highway I travel daily to work.

每年春天的时候，在我每天去工作的高速公路旁边的沟渠里面，都会盛开着一簇鲜艳的花朵。

There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eye. I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hour, the afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day for approximately two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.

有一簇十分蔚蓝的花朵总会引起我的注意。我早已觉察到了它只有在早晨的时候才会盛开，（这也许是因为）下午的温度太干燥了。

This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditch would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers.

今年春天，我在自己的院子里面开辟了一块野花园。我能在清洗碟盘的时候就从厨房的窗户看到外面的花朵。我已经思考了许多次,要是那沟渠里那美丽的蔚蓝花簇也移栽在花床中并和其他野花放置到一起，那样会非常好看。

Everyday I drove past the flowers thinking, “I’ll stop on my way home and dig them.” “Gee，I don’t want to get my good clothes dirty...” Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a folding shovel for my trunk to be used for that expressed purpose.

每天我开车路过那簇蔚蓝色花朵的时候都在想着，“回家的时候我就去把它们挖走带回家吧，”“哎，我不想把自己漂亮的衣服弄脏了…”不管是什么理由吧，我始终没有停下车来去把它们挖走，为了那个想法,我丈夫甚至给我的货车上装了一副折叠铲。

One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had mowed the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, “Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring.”

有一天，在我下班回家的路上，注意到路政处已经把那沟渠修整一番，使我沮丧的是那里漂亮的蔚蓝花簇也已经不见了。我自己思索着，“早该动手了，只是我等的太久没开始罢了。我也许真该在春天里第一次看到它们的时候就把它们带回家去了。”

A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a terminal brain tumor. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven't been as close as we all would have liked.

一个礼拜前，我们得知嫂子患了晚期脑瘤后很震惊也为她感到难过。她年长我丈夫20岁而且由于年龄和居住的一些理由，很遗憾的是，彼此之间并不像我们曾期待的那样关系亲密。

I couldn’t help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband’s sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us. And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I’ll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden. 

我不禁想到，自己与这些漂亮蓝花和我们同嫂子的关系。我相信上帝年年都会给我们一定的时间去播种那些美好的记忆。而且我深信,如果重来一次，我要是能再看到那些蔚蓝花朵的话，不用说,我肯定会停下车来，然后把它们移栽到我的野花园里。