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For Ann Wroe, life is best when the world is simple, new and there to be discovered …
I’d choose to live in very early childhood, just at the beginning of discernment. There’s no time there, beyond the eternal rhythm set by meals at the breast and the oblivion of sleep, which comes as gently and immediately as the closing of an eye; there’s no place there, beyond one patch of sunlit grass, one fold of blanket, and the whole enormous world laid out for exploring.
In this time and place, poets tell us, dreams and waking are the same; we move easily from one to the other. We may still keep, as Wordsworth supposed, intimations of some ante-natal life, and know why we home like bees towards the song of a bird or the sparkle of sunbeams on water. With our small hands, we believe that everything can be grasped; with our small, soft mouths we try to eat it all, assuming everything we find will be sweet and rich as milk.
No one makes demands on us, and the world revolves effortlessly round no one but ourselves. Our griefs are soothed and forgotten almost before the tears fall. We are carried if we want to be, in hugging arms, but we can pull ourselves up, reach things, and creep away from where we’re put: every day more confident, stronger, keener-eyed. Slowly, like a shell, the world opens and light floods in. Any day now, we’ll stand to meet it.
Everything is new, unnamed, important, and belongs to us. A stone is new, and a blade of grass. We see their potential as unlimited, like our own. We make time for it. A puddle astonishes us. A piece of paper, blown by the wind, becomes a playmate, and the night-time tree a ragged monster. Coleridge once took his crying baby son out of the house to show him the moon; the moon silenced him, shining on his tears. It is good to be silenced by beauty. Too briefly we stay there. But infancy makes of everywhere the best time and the best place. ♥
discernment：= judgment. Discernment is the ability to judge which things of a particular kind are good and which are bad.
eternal：Something that is eternal lasts for ever.
oblivion：Oblivion is the state of not being aware of what is happening around you, for example because you are asleep or unconscious.
patch：A patch on a surface is a part of it which is different in appearance from the area around it.
sunlit：Sunlit places are brightly lit by the sun.
enormous：Something that is enormous is extremely large in size or amount.
Wordsworth：华滋华斯(1770—1850，英国诗人)
intimation：An intimation is an indirect suggestion or sign that something is likely to happen or be true. (FORMAL)
ante-natal：胎儿期的，出生前的
sparkle：If something sparkles, it is clear and bright and shines with a lot of very small points of light.
grasp：If you grasp something, you take it in your hand and hold it very firmly.
revolve：If you say that one thing revolves around another thing, you mean that the second thing is the main feature or focus of the first thing.
grief：Grief is a feeling of extreme sadness.
soothe：If you soothe someone who is angry or upset, you make them feel calmer.
creep：When people or animals creep somewhere, they move quietly and slowly.
blade：A blade of grass is a single piece of grass.
puddle：A puddle is a small, shallow pool of liquid that has spread on the ground.
astonish：If something or someone astonishes you, they surprise you very much.
monster：A monster is a large imaginary creature that looks very ugly and frightening.
Coleridge：柯勒律治 (Mary Coleridge 1861—1907) 英国女诗人
infancy：Infancy is the period of your life when you are a very young child.
I’d choose to live in very early childhood, just at the beginning of discernment. There’s no time there, beyond the eternal rhythm set by meals at the breast and the oblivion of sleep, which comes as gently and immediately as the closing of an eye; there’s no place there, beyond one patch of sunlit grass, one fold of blanket, and the whole enormous world laid out for exploring.
In this time and place, poets tell us, dreams and waking are the same; we move easily from one to the other. We may still keep, as Wordsworth supposed, intimations of some ante-natal life, and know why we home like bees towards the song of a bird or the sparkle of sunbeams on water. With our small hands, we believe that everything can be grasped; with our small, soft mouths we try to eat it all, assuming everything we find will be sweet and rich as milk.
No one makes demands on us, and the world revolves effortlessly round no one but ourselves. Our griefs are soothed and forgotten almost before the tears fall. We are carried if we want to be, in hugging arms, but we can pull ourselves up, reach things, and creep away from where we’re put: every day more confident, stronger, keener-eyed. Slowly, like a shell, the world opens and light floods in. Any day now, we’ll stand to meet it.
Everything is new, unnamed, important, and belongs to us. A stone is new, and a blade of grass. We see their potential as unlimited, like our own. We make time for it. A puddle astonishes us. A piece of paper, blown by the wind, becomes a playmate, and the night-time tree a ragged monster. Coleridge once took his crying baby son out of the house to show him the moon; the moon silenced him, shining on his tears. It is good to be silenced by beauty. Too briefly we stay there. But infancy makes of everywhere the best time and the best place. ♥
discernment：= judgment. Discernment is the ability to judge which things of a particular kind are good and which are bad.
eternal：Something that is eternal lasts for ever.
oblivion：Oblivion is the state of not being aware of what is happening around you, for example because you are asleep or unconscious.
patch：A patch on a surface is a part of it which is different in appearance from the area around it.
sunlit：Sunlit places are brightly lit by the sun.
enormous：Something that is enormous is extremely large in size or amount.
Wordsworth：华滋华斯(1770—1850，英国诗人)
intimation：An intimation is an indirect suggestion or sign that something is likely to happen or be true. (FORMAL)
ante-natal：胎儿期的，出生前的
sparkle：If something sparkles, it is clear and bright and shines with a lot of very small points of light.
grasp：If you grasp something, you take it in your hand and hold it very firmly.
revolve：If you say that one thing revolves around another thing, you mean that the second thing is the main feature or focus of the first thing.
grief：Grief is a feeling of extreme sadness.
soothe：If you soothe someone who is angry or upset, you make them feel calmer.
creep：When people or animals creep somewhere, they move quietly and slowly.
blade：A blade of grass is a single piece of grass.
puddle：A puddle is a small, shallow pool of liquid that has spread on the ground.
astonish：If something or someone astonishes you, they surprise you very much.
monster：A monster is a large imaginary creature that looks very ugly and frightening.
Coleridge：柯勒律治 (Mary Coleridge 1861—1907) 英国女诗人
infancy：Infancy is the period of your life when you are a very young child.