父亲是个道地的农人
每天都把全副心力用在农事上
把田地当作他的家园
恨不得那些田地尽快肥壮起来
扶犁耕地，插秧种稻，除草施肥
培植出每年丰收的水稻
和一家温饱的生活
整日连夜，休息一下都不
做得汗流浃背，土头土脸
没听他喊过一声累
全家人都为他不忍
“歇困一下吧！”
他却仿佛没听到
这样不停地工作
年轻时没什么问题
年纪一大就渐渐显得支撑不住了
家人劝他稍为休息一下
他却总给当耳边风
直到晚年，年老力衰
他仍然执意埋头农事
家人真拿他没办法
就在1979年8月那一天上午
哦，命定的时刻
他从田地里匆匆回到家
默默地往床上一躺
家人发觉有异，问他
他只回说：“歇困一下。”
然后就不再言语了
何止是“歇困一下”？
从那天起
他就休息了
而他念兹在兹的田地呢？
巧遇台湾稻田的没落
也渐渐跟着他休息了

Please Have a Rest　 Hsu ChiCheng

Father is a real farmer
Who flings himself into farming
He regards field as his home
And couldn’t wait for the field to be fertile
He follows the plough, transplants rice seedlings, weeding and fertilizing
To cultivate a bumper harvest of rice from year to year
And to guarantee the cozy life of the whole family
He works day and night, without taking a rest
He is adrip with perspiration, face covered with dust
But he does not cry a single fatigue
All the family feel sympathy for him
“Please have a rest!”
But he seems not to hear it
And does not stop his work
When he was young the burden seemed nothing
But with advancement of his age the burden weighs
The family ask him to have a rest
But he turns a deaf ear
Till his later years, when he becomes weak
He still applies himself to farming
And the family are helpless
On the morning of August, 1979
O, the fateful moment
He hurried home from the field
And lied down in bed
The family found him abnormal
But he only replied: “I want to have a rest.”
And then he spoke no more
Is that “to have a rest”?
From that day on
He had a real rest
And what about the field on his heart?
It so happens that the paddy field in Taiwan sinks and slumps
And has a rest together with him
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