English Original
The family had just moved to Rhode Island, and the young woman was feeling a little melancholy on that Sunday in May. After all, it was Mother's Day, and 800 miles separated her from her parents in Ohio.
She had called her mother that morning. Her mother mentioned how colorful the yard was now that spring had arrived. As they talked, the younger woman could almost smell the tantalizing aroma of purple lilacs hanging outside her parents' back door.
Later, she mentioned to her husband how she missed those lilacs. He immediately stood up. "I know where we can find all you want," he said. "Get the kids and come on."
So off they went, driving the country roads on a perfect mid-May day: sparkling sunshine, unclouded azure skies, and the vibrant green of new growth everywhere. They passed villages, new housing developments, and abandoned apple orchards, eventually reaching an area where nature had reclaimed old homesteads.
Where they stopped, dense thickets of cedars, junipers, and birch lined the road. No lilacs were in sight.
"Come with me," the man said. "Over that hill is an old cellar hole from a farm. Lilacs grow all around it. The landowner said I could poke around anytime."
Before they were halfway up the hill, the fragrance of lilacs reached them. The children started running. Soon, their mother ran too, reaching the hilltop first.
There, hidden from the road, stood towering lilac bushes, so laden with huge, cone-shaped flower clusters that they almost bent double. With a smile, the young woman rushed to the nearest bush, buried her face in the blossoms, and drank in the fragrance and the memories.
While her husband examined the cellar hole and explained to the children what the house might have looked like, the woman wandered among the lilacs. Carefully, she chose sprigs here and there, clipping them with her husband's pocket knife. She was in no hurry, relishing each blossom as a rare treasure.
Finally, they returned to the car for the trip home. As the children chattered and her husband drove, the woman sat smiling, surrounded by her flowers, a faraway look in her eyes.
When they were within three miles of home, she suddenly shouted, "Stop the car! Stop right here!"
Her husband slammed on the brakes. Before he could ask why, she was out of the car and hurrying up a nearby grassy slope, lilacs still in her arms. At the top stood a nursing home. On that beautiful spring day, patients were outdoors strolling or sitting on the porch.
The young woman went to the end of the porch, where an elderly patient sat alone in a wheelchair, head bowed, her back to the others. She placed the flowers across the railing into the old woman's lap.
The woman lifted her head and smiled. The two chatted briefly, both aglow with happiness. Then the young woman turned and ran back to her family. As the car pulled away, the woman in the wheelchair waved, clutching the lilacs.
"Mom," the children asked, "who was that? Why did you give her our flowers? Is she somebody's mother?"
The mother said she didn't know the old woman. But it was Mother's Day, and the woman seemed so alone. "Who wouldn't be cheered by flowers?" she said. "Besides, I have all of you, and I still have my mother, even if she is far away. That woman needed those flowers more than I did."
This satisfied the children, but not the husband. The next day, he bought half a dozen young lilac bushes and planted them around their yard. He has added more several times since.
I was that man. The young mother was, and is, my wife. Now, every May, our yard is redolent with lilacs. Every Mother's Day, our children gather purple bouquets. And every year, I remember the smile on that lonely old woman's face, and the kindness that put it there.
中文翻译
一家人刚搬到罗德岛。五月的那个星期天，年轻的妻子感到一丝忧郁。毕竟，那天是母亲节，而她与俄亥俄州的父母相隔800英里。
那天早上她给母亲打了电话。母亲说起春天来了，院子变得多么色彩缤纷。交谈中，妻子仿佛闻到了父母后门外那丛紫色丁香花传来的撩人芬芳。
后来，她对丈夫说起多么想念那些丁香花。他立刻站了起来。"我知道哪里能找到你想要的花，"他说，"带上孩子们，我们走吧。"
于是他们出发了，驾车行驶在乡村道路上。这正是五月中旬特有的好天气：阳光灿烂，蔚蓝的天空万里无云，四处是新绿的蓬勃生机。他们经过村庄、新兴的住宅区和废弃的苹果园，最终来到一处草木早已吞噬了老宅的地方。
他们停车的地方，道路两旁长满了雪松、杜松和白桦的茂密灌木丛。一株丁香也看不见。
"跟我来，"丈夫说。"山那边有一个老地窖的坑洞，是多年前某个农场的遗迹，周围长满了丁香。地主说我随时可以来这里转转。"
还没走到半山腰，丁香的芬芳已飘然而至。孩子们开始奔跑。很快，母亲也跑了起来，第一个到达山顶。
在那里，远离公路的视线，隐藏于渐近的文明之外，矗立着高大的丁香丛。它们缀满了巨大的圆锥形花簇，几乎被压弯了腰。年轻的妻子微笑着冲向最近的一丛，将脸埋进花中，沉醉于芬芳以及它所唤起的回忆。
当丈夫查看地窖坑洞并向孩子们解释房子原来的模样时，妻子在丁香花间流连。她小心翼翼地这里选一枝，那里挑一簇，用丈夫的袖珍刀剪下。她不慌不忙，品味着每一朵花，视若珍宝。
最后，他们回到车上踏上归途。孩子们叽叽喳喳，丈夫开着车，妻子微笑着坐在花丛中，眼神飘向远方。
离家还有三英里时，她突然对丈夫喊道："停车！就停在这里！"
丈夫猛踩刹车。还没来得及问原因，妻子已抱着丁香花下了车，匆匆走上附近一个草坡。坡顶是一家疗养院。在这个美好的春日，病人们正在户外散步，或坐在门廊上。
年轻的妻子走到门廊尽头，一位年老的病人独自坐在轮椅上，低着头，背对着其他人。她把花束递过栏杆，放到了老妇人的膝上。
老妇人抬起头，笑了。两人简短地聊了几句，都容光焕发，洋溢着幸福。然后，年轻的妻子转身跑回家人身边。汽车驶离时，轮椅上的妇人挥着手，紧紧握着那束丁香。
"妈妈，"孩子们问，"她是谁？你为什么把我们的花给她？她是某个人的母亲吗？"
母亲说她并不认识那位老妇人。但那天是母亲节，而老妇人看起来如此孤独。"谁会不被鲜花鼓舞呢？"她说，"而且，我有你们大家，我也有自己的母亲，尽管她离得很远。那位女士比我更需要这些花。"
这个回答让孩子们满意了，但丈夫没有。第二天，他买了六株年轻的丁香灌木，种在自家院子周围。自那以后，他又多次添种了更多。
我就是那个丈夫。那位年轻的母亲，过去是，现在也是，我的妻子。如今，每年五月，我们自己的院子都弥漫着丁香的芬芳。每个母亲节，我们的孩子都会采摘紫色的花束。而每一年，我都会记起那位孤独老妇人脸上的笑容，以及带来那笑容的善意。