Every hour is tedious to a lover separated from his mistress; and to show you how good I am, I will have my watch instruct you to pass some of them without inquietude, that the force of your imagination may sometimes charm the trouble you have for my absence. --Aphra Behn, The lover's watch.
最近的闲暇时光都耗在学校，偶得一本小小诗集 The lover's watch. 它是一本轻而小巧的手册，最早出版于1686年。我手上的这一本是2004年版，封面和插页设计极其的古典，像正在融化的微热的巧克力。整本小册子其实是给远方恋人的生活指导，它借一个叫Iris的女性声音传达出对远方爱人Damon的牵挂。。。种种缘由Iris不得不离开伦敦，但Damon必须留下并且注定要面对各种各样的诱惑考验。Iris给Damon写下了爱人的时钟，告诉他每天的每小时应该如何度过在他们分开的这段时间。而这一切都用美丽沉潜的韵文来点缀，让我在阅读之余会时不时微笑，尝试用理性来分析这些甜蜜而恼人的小约束或者干脆把它的情境搬到自己身上慰籍一番。分不清Iris是虔诚体贴的爱情天使，还是假爱之名的控制魔鬼？
Beginning at eight o'clock in the morning, "Do not rise yet; you may find thoughts agreeable enough when you awake to entertain you longer in bed. And it is in that hour you ought to recollect all the dreams you had in the night. If you dreamt anything to my advantage, confirm yourself in that thought, but if to my disadvantage, renounce it, and disown the injurious dream."
At nine, she instructs him to rise, reminding him that since she is absent, he ought not to take too many pains in dressing himself up. Design to please nobody, is how she sums this hour up. At ten he is to go to his cabinet and take out her letters to read. She's concerned that he might find some of them a little cold, but this is due to her "sense of honour, and my sex modesty."
Eleven is the hour to write letters. Naturally, these letters must be to her. They shouldn't be short, or witty, but from the heart.
Two is dinner time. And while she allows him to eat what he likes, she would prefer he didn't sit next to any beautiful women, and gives her reasons for this.
Six o'clock he should go walking, possibly with friends. Of course, where he goes walking and who he might run into is something that concerns her. "You may look indifferently on all, but with a particular regard on none."
Seven o'clock sees the onset of night, when he takes his leave of his friends and returns home to give some thought to what has passed that day.
Then at eight o'clock, he can write to her, telling her all the latest news.
Damon ought to go to bed at one, but may likely toss and turn for an hour. And who should he think on during this time?
Ps: Aphra Behn作为一个在英语文学的历史上的先驱者，她不仅仅是首位职业的女性作家，她更是小说形式的革新者。她运用书信体并结合戏剧元素, 创造了第一本真正的书信体小说 Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister；在In Oroonoko 中，她运用了自述的声音来亲近读者，她精于细节的描写，她创造的情节在文学史中第一次体现出“noble savage”的概念。
今天一大早就到学校的旅行中心询问了机票价格和相关食宿问题。自己只花了半个小时做好计划和预算便在 West Jet 买下了去多伦多的机票。不知道自己是哪里来的勇气，好象越是长大，我内心里的那些流浪汉般的气息就越是浓郁。我也知道这样的流浪意味着孤独、失语、鞭挞、审视、索问、彷徨。会遇到不可想象的麻烦、绝望、窘迫、退缩、两难。会遇到无可回避的挑战，太多的无法选择而选择。但，我的这条路已经走的太远太长，与其无处遁形不如让生命在路途中充入新鲜野性。因为这些原本就属于我。
欢迎欢迎........
