放緩

寒冬是必須的啊，天賜豐沛雨水，大地青綠重現。週日午後趁陽光露臉，駕車來到熟悉的小地方，山巒似波浪起伏眼前，光線穿越雲深雲淺，野外草原，遼闊而愜意的草原！行旅青青草原，總在遼闊中模糊自己的視線，總在愜意中忘卻自己的邊緣，緩緩丘陵剎那得見，天高地遠。

天高地遠，既然得見，
也就不必，著急返回。

近郊吹吹風，趨於無限的放緩；
出門透透氣，悠哉悠哉的自然。

喜愛這陰晴不定，雲來時而驟雨，雲去轉眼光明。溫度是正午陽光的溫暖，空氣有昨夜風雨的清寒。

葡萄園的落寞，順著枯藤，爬上緩緩山坡，雲兒踱步，駐足丘陵高處，凝思今年收成，將要數著日子，眼睜睜地度過，該是醺醉的夏日。

牧場，放羊。山坡羊。興衰皆苦。

懷古的山坡羊，欣賞後還給張養浩，古今對比太沈重，不適合出遊心情。興許讀點文同的詩文，想像自己駕車在夕陽西下的鄉間小路：

「暮煙已合牛羊下，信馬林間步月歸。」

說出遊也沒出遊，只是出門繞一圈，一個小時的行程，吹吹風透透氣，聽聽牛羊的聲音。不由分說，雨後牧場的味道隨風飄散，吸入五臟六腑，比較近日的烏煙瘴氣，竟然格外清新；風景雖是舊時景，綠色原野展現光影陰晴，深淺足跡現驚奇，稍稍抒解禁足抑鬱。

Slowing Down

(2020, 2023, Revised 2026)

Winter is necessary, a gift of rain to return green to the land. On a Sunday afternoon, as the sun briefly appeared, I drove to that familiar place. The hills rose and fell like waves before my eyes, while light moved through layers of cloud of varying depths. Open grassland; wide and quietly at ease. Traveling through these green plains, one’s vision blurs in the vastness, and the edge of the self fades in such ease. Upon the rolling hills, a sudden clarity: sky high, earth far.

Sky high, earth far.
Since I have seen it,
there is no need to hurry back.

A breeze in the outskirts,
a deceleration toward the infinite;
a breath in the open air,
the leisurely flow of nature.

I like this unsettled weather: rain arriving with the clouds, light returning as they pass. There is the warmth of the midday sun, yet the air still holds the cool of last night’s storm.

The solitude of the vineyards creeps along the withered vines up the gentle slopes. Clouds wander, pausing along the ridgeline as if considering this year’s harvest. They count the days, watching the summer that should have been full slip away.

A pasture, and sheep. On the hillside, sheep again. Rise and fall; both are sorrow. I return such heavy reflections to the past, for they do not belong to an afternoon drive.

Perhaps it is better to recall a quieter line, imagining a road at dusk:

Evening mist settles as the flock descends;
trusting the horse through the woods,
returning by the moon.

It was not a journey, really, but just a loop, an hour or so. A little wind, a little air, and the sound of cattle and sheep. The scent of the pasture after rain moved with the wind, filling the body. Compared with the stale air of recent days, it felt unexpectedly clear.

The view was as of old, yet the verdant fields shifted in the play of light. Along familiar paths, faint footprints brought small wonders, granting a brief respite from the long shadows of lockdown.