萨利·鲁尼写失去父亲的男人，讲他的遗憾：
“他一点都不了解我。我们对彼此过敏。此生从未有过一场真正的交谈。”
前女友安慰他，说：“你太看重交谈了，生活不止在于讲话。”
然后鲁尼引用了诗人罗伯特·海登的诗句：
「爱是艰苦而孤独的事务。」

这句是我一直喜欢的“爱的定义式”句子，于是我去找了原诗，才意识到这句引用多么准确恰切。
这首《Those Winter Sundays》，讲的就是父亲无声的爱，特别好，适合在父亲节发社交网络哈哈哈。
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

读的时候想起我爸爸，忍不住有点想哭。
austere，好词，词典解释是：「very simple, with only the things that are absolutely necessary, especially because of severe limits on money or goods」，非常简单，只有极其必要的东西，特别是是出于严重的金钱物质限制。

但这句诗是顺从我的内心的，让我想起崔恩荣《即使不努力》扉页那句话——那本书我全忘了，只有这句话深深刻在我心中，“爱的定义式”句子，给我带来巨大启发和震撼，虽然和这句诗意思有些相悖，但某种程度也是异曲同工：

「爱并非一种需要努力找出证据的痛苦劳动。」

#试读《间奏曲》#