暖国的雨，向来没有变过冰冷的坚硬的灿烂的雪花。博识的人们觉得他单调，他自己也以为不幸否耶？江南的雪，可是滋润美艳之至了；那是还在隐约着的青春的消息，是极壮健的处子①的皮肤。雪野中有血红的宝珠②山茶，白中隐青的单瓣梅花，深黄的磬口的蜡梅花；雪下面还有冷绿的杂草。胡蝶③确乎没有；蜜蜂是否来采山茶花和梅花的蜜，我可记不真切了。但我的眼前仿佛看见冬花开在雪野中，有许多蜜蜂们忙碌地飞着，也听得他们嗡嗡地闹着。
孩子们呵着冻得通红，像紫芽姜④一般的小手，七八个一齐来塑雪罗汉⑤。因为不成功，谁的父亲也来帮忙了。罗汉就塑得比孩子们高得多，虽然不过是上小下大的一堆，终于分不清是壶卢⑥还是罗汉；然而很洁白，很明艳，以自身的滋润相粘结，整个地闪闪地生光。孩子们用龙眼⑦核给他做眼珠，又从谁的母亲的脂粉奁⑧中偷得胭脂⑨来涂在嘴唇上。这回确是一个大阿罗汉⑩了。他也就目光灼灼地嘴唇通红地坐在雪地里。
第二天还有几个孩子来访问他；对了他拍手，点头，嘻笑。但他终于独自坐着了。晴天又来消释他的皮肤，寒夜又使他结一层冰，化作不透明的水晶模样；连续的晴天又使他成为不知道算什么，而嘴上的胭脂也褪尽了。
但是，朔方(11)的雪花在纷飞之后，却永远如粉，如沙，他们决不粘连，撒在屋上，地上，枯草上，就是这样。屋上的雪是早已就有消化了的，因为屋里居人的火的温热。别的，在晴天之下，旋风忽来，便蓬勃地奋飞，在日光中灿灿地生光，如包藏火焰的大雾，旋转而且升腾，弥漫太空，使太空旋转而且升腾地闪烁。
在无边的旷野上，在凛冽的天宇下，闪闪地旋转升腾着的是雨的精魂……
是的，那是孤独的雪，是死掉的雨，是雨的精魂。
(一九二五年一月十八日)
The rain in the warm south has never known the experience of being turned into icy snowflakes, crystalline and splendid. The erudite consider this a dreary misfortune; but does the rain really care? By comparison, the snow in Jiangnan, southern China, is moist and nurturing, truly beautiful. Like the soft rosy skin of a young maiden, the snow emits the scent of youth. The snowfields abound with the scents and colours of ruby red camellias, greenish-white plum blossoms with single petals, and wintersweet with layers of apricot yellow petals. Beneath the snow hides still the wild grass, cold and green. Butterflies are nowhere to be seen; but do bees hover about the flowers’ nectars? I cannot quite recall.
Nevertheless, at this moment, in my mind’s eye, I see flowers blooming and hear bees buzzing.Outside, the children breathe on their tiny hands for warmth, their fingers purple red like sprouting ginger. Seven or eight of them are trying to make a snowman. After failing in their efforts, they need help from one of their fathers. The snowman grows much taller than the children; but it remains a pile of snow with a small top and a big bottom, looking more like a big gourd than a snowman. Held together by its frozen moisture, the snowman, bright and white, glistens in the sunlight. One of the children gives him two eyes of "dragon-eye” fruit; another paints his lips red with rouge obtained from his mother’s vanity box. With his new eyes and red lips, the snowman is transformed into a great handsome .
Buddha guarding the fields.The next day more children visit the snowman, clapping their hands, giggling and nodding to him; yet he remains a solitary figure in the field. The sun melts him somewhat during the day, yet the night returns to cover him with another layer of ice, turning him into a translucent crystal statue. After a few sunny days, it becomes something unrecognizable; the rouge on his lips disappears without a trace.
The snow in the north, however, is as dry as powder. It does not mix and will not stick, only to be blown across the roofs, fields and withered grass. The heat from the stove inside the house melts the snow on the roofs quickly and quietly; but the snow elsewhere has a different destiny. On a sunny day, a sudden whirlwind lifts the snow from its rest. The snowflakes swirl vigorously in the bright sunlight, like glistening flames wrapped in heavy fog. They fly, whirl, and soar, permeating the sky and turning it into an ecstatic dancer, waltzing and beaming.
In the immense wildness, under the piercing cold sky, the heroic soul of the rain rises, ascending, twirling and sparkling.
Certainly, that is the lonely snow, the dead rain, the spirit of the rain.
January 18, 1925
注释 Notes
① 处子chǔzǐ: virgin.
② 宝珠bǎozhū: beads made of precious stone.
③ 胡蝶（蝴蝶）húdié: butterfly.
④ 紫芽姜zǐyájiāng: young ginger.
⑤ 罗汉luóhàn: Buddhist monk, arhat in Sanscrit.
⑥ 壶卢(葫芦)húlu: gourd with the shape of a bottle.
⑦ 龙眼lóngyǎn: logan fruit.
⑧ 奁lián: toilet case.
⑨ 胭脂yānzhi: rouge.
⑩ 阿罗汉āluóhàn: Arahan.
(11)朔方shuòfāng: north.
