Hope came tapping at my window

By Patrick Allan

疾病、寒冷使作者无心过节，看不到生活的希望。但是，寒风夹带着树枝敲打着窗户，告诉作者即使在严寒的季节，棉白杨也会吐出新绿。这让作者看到了生活的希望，度过了一个曼妙的复活节，感受到生命不一样的坚韧不屈与希望。

Winters are long and unforgiving in North Dakota.The winter of 1996 was especially brutal.It was a difficult time in my own life too.A neck injury had kept me flat in bed for nearly a year. “Just in time for Easter,” my husband,Dick,was always saying so.But how could I feel the joy when the snow was four feet deep and I had months of painful physical treatment ahead?

I was doing the dishes one day,feeling hopeless when there was a tap against the glass.It was a branch of the troublesome cottonwood.

Back in the fall of 1979,it was a new subdivision then.The people who'd briefly occupied the house before us had placed the pipe from the pump next to it.The earth was so wet that the poor thing had fallen down,most of its bare root system pointing skyward,blowing hopelessly back and forth in the cold wind.Dick decided to pull it out one day,but I protested.

“Look at how hard it's trying!”I said,pointing to the way it strongly kept hold of the earth.“It is worthy of a chance.”

北内华达州的冬天漫长而难挨，1996年的冬天尤为苦寒。这是我生命中举步维艰的一段时光——颈部的受伤让我在床上差不多已经躺一年了。“赶上复活节就会康复的”，我的丈夫Dick总会这样不厌其烦地告诉我。但一看到四英尺厚的积雪，想到还要经历数月痛苦不堪的理疗，我的心里怎能涌起一丝的悸动呢？

一天我正在清洗餐具，我感到万念俱灰。此时，有一丝响声。那是那棵棉白杨的一根树枝轻敲窗户发出来的声音，这是一棵惹人心烦的棉白杨。

记得1979年的秋季，这棵棉白杨还只是一株新枝。彼时，使用我们对面房子的人已将管道从水泵上移到了与其毗邻的地方。泥土湿漉漉的，棉白杨已经歪倒，多半的根系裸露着指向天空，在寒风中无望地往返摇曳。有一天，Dick决定把它拔掉，但我表示反对。

“看，它在多么倔强地试着活下去啊！”我这样说道，用手指着棉白杨紧紧扎根土地的方向。“它该得到一次机会。”

Dick borrowed some tools.We packed dry soil around the tree and put up some stakes into the ground,making it stand upright.

That winter was still terrible.Several months passed before I was conscious of it.Surprisingly，when spring returned，my “rescue stick”put forth a few leaves,then with lots of branches.By the 1990s that little stick was a giant,towering over the house.

Now the tapping at the window continued,louder as the wind picked up,almost as though to remind me to look up.At last,I did.I caught my breath.In the window against the icy blue sky,thousands and thousands of fresh red buds were waving rhythmically in the wind.

I again listened respectfully to the brisk tapping at my window.What an incredible miracle of life！ I thought aloud.

That night I fell asleep peacefully and had a dream.In the dream clusters of red buds were blossoming wildly against the warm blue sky，clustering around closely and whispering to each other in the spring breeze.

The next morning when I woke up，I stood against the window.Outside the window was the tree bursting with life.

I had a wonderful Easter.

Dick借来了一些工具。我们在树的四周培了一些干燥的土壤，在地面上楔下一些树桩，这样它就能笔直而立了。

冬天依然寒冷。我还没来得及意识到，几个月就过去了。令人惊讶的是，在春天回来的时候，我的“救命枯枝”居然吐出了几片新叶，接着又长出了许多枝桠。到90年代末的时候，昔日的枯枝早已成长为参天大树，高耸在房屋上。

如今，棉白杨的树枝继续轻敲着窗户，风越大，声音就愈加地脆响，似乎在提醒我抬头仰望它。最后，我真地抬起了头。我屏住了呼吸。在凛冽蓝天映衬着的窗户中，数不清的新鲜的红色花蕊在风中律动。

我再次聆听窗棂上发出的脆响。“多么不可思议的生命奇迹啊！”我自言自语道。

那一夜，我睡着了，枕着梦安然地睡着了。在梦中，一簇簇的红色花蕊迎着温煦的蓝天肆意绽放，紧紧地簇拥着，在春风中呢喃。

第二天早晨，当我醒来的时候，我凭窗而立。窗外，棉白杨着迸发着新生。

我度过了一个曼妙的复活节。