Autumn Sunset

　　We had a remarkable sunset one day last November. I was walking in a meadow, the source of a small brook, when the sun at last, just before setting, after a cold gray day, reached a clear stratum in the horizon, and the softest, brightest morning sunlight fell on the dry grass and on the stems of the trees in the opposite horizon, and on the leaves of the shrub-oaks on the hill-side, while our shadows stretched long over the meadow eastward, as if we were the only motes in its beams. It was such a light as we could not have imagined a moment before, and the air also was so warm and serene that nothing wanted to make a paradise of that meadow. When we reflected that this was not a solitaryphenomenon, never to happen again, but that it would happen forever and ever an infinite number of evenings, and cheer and reassure the latest child that walked there, it was more glorious still.

　　The sun sets on some retired meadow, where no house is visible, with all the glory and splendor that it lavishes on cities, and, perchance, as it has never set before, --where there is but a solitary marsh-hawk to have his wings gilded by it, or only a masques lookout from his cabin, and there is some little black-veined brook in the midst of the marsh, just beginning to meander, winding slowly round a decaying stump. We walked in so pure and bright a light, gilding the withered grass and leaves, so softly and serenely bright, I thought I had never bathed in such a golden flood, without a ripple or a murmur to it. The west side of every wood and rising ground gleamed like a boundary of Ely-sium, and the sun on our backs seemed like a gentle herdsman driving us home at evening.

　　So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bank-side in autumn.

　　最近十一月的一天，我们目睹了一个极其美丽的日落。当我象平时一样漫步于一道小溪发源处的草地之上，那高空的太阳，终于在一个凄苦的寒天之后、暮夕之前，突于天际骤放澄明。这时但见远方天幕下的衰草残茎，山边的树叶橡丛，登时浸在一片柔美而耀眼的绮照之中，而我们自己的身影也长长地伸向草地的东方，仿佛是那缕斜耀中仅有的点点微尘。周围的风物是那么妍美，一晌之前还是难以想象，空气也是那么和暖纯净，一时这普通草原实在无异于天上景象。但是这眼前之景难道一定是亘古以来不曾有过的特殊奇观？说不定自有天日以来，每个暮夕便都是如此，因而连跑动在这里的幼小孩童也会觉得自在欣悦。想到这些，这幅景象也就益发显得壮丽起来。

　　此刻那落日的余晕正以它全部的灿烂与辉煌，也不分城市还是乡村，甚至以往日少见的艳丽，尽情斜映在这一带境远地僻的草地之上；这里没有一间房舍--茫茫之中只瞥见一头孤零零的沼鹰，背羽上染尽了金黄，一只麝香鼠正在洞穴口探头，另外在沼泽之间望见了一股水色黝黑的小溪，蜿蜒曲折，绕行于一堆残株败根之旁。我们漫步于其中的光照，是这样的纯美与熠耀，满目衰草树叶，一片金黄，晃晃之中又是这般柔和和恬静，没有一丝涟漪，一息呜咽。我想我从来不曾沐浴过这么优美的金色光波。西望林薮丘岗之际，彩焕烂然，恍若仙境沉睡一般，而我们背后的秋阳，仿佛一个慈祥的牧人，正趁薄暮时分，赶送我们归去。

　　我们踟蹰于天国的历程当中也是这样。总有一天，太阳的光辉照耀得更加妍丽，会照射进我们的心扉灵府之中，会使我们的生活充满更彻悟的奇妙光照，其温煦、恬淡与金灿熠耀，恰似秋日的河岸。