埃米莉?狄金森致威廉?奥斯汀?狄金森
埃米莉?狄金森（1830—1886），美国著名女诗人。生于安贺斯特,曾在安姆斯特学院和芒特霍尔里约克女子神学院学习。从25岁开始弃绝社交，足不出户，在家务劳动之余埋头做诗，故被称做“安姆斯特修女”。埃米莉一生共创作1775首诗，她生前仅发表七首，其余部分都是她死后30年内由其亲人整理、出版的。埃米莉的诗风独特，以文字细腻、观察敏锐、意象突出著称，题材方面多半是自然、死亡和永生。
亲爱的奥斯汀——今天早上我一直在想你离家已有几周——时间过得是如此之慢，一天就如同一年，一周就如同二十年——不再用分钟计算时间以后，我不知道该怎么区分真实的时间与“虚幻”的时间。对于你来说，或许觉得回到波士顿已过了很长时间——我多么希望你能待在这里，永远别再回去啊！这里的每一件事物仍然如往常般静立，乌云密布，寒气袭人。啊，我是如此孤单！你在一个刮风的晚上回到了波士顿，我们千万次地思念你，并且希望你不要着凉。我们身旁的炉火正旺，我忍不住想起，在这里，我们有多少次相聚，有多少次分离，又有多少次我希望你能在漫长的夜晚把门打开，回到家来。家是一个神圣的地方，任何怀疑或疑虑都无法侵入它神圣的领地。当时间的巨轮向前推进，你信任的人也一个个离你而去，我越来越感到家的神圣和温暖，家里看上去确实有点像伊甸园，没有任何罪恶可以彻底破坏它——事实上，家是小了一些，或许也并不美好，但是比起整个世界来，家却更加美丽，更加温馨。
我希望今年你不会在波士顿损害健康，我也希望你将如同以前那样快乐。我不会怀疑你离开上帝的祝福会非常镇定——如果在我力所能及的范围内，我将每天早晨把这里纯净、芳香、清凉的空气转送给你。我多希望你能拥有它啊——早上的徐徐清风把它吹到我的面前，伴随着森林里的树叶和清新的秋果的芬芳。我将非常愿意把自己今天所得的那份空气送给你，并用它取代海上那苦涩的空气……
您亲爱的
埃米莉
1851年秋于安姆斯特
Emily Dickinson
To
Amherst,
Autumn,1851.
Dear Austin, —I've been trying to think this morning how many weeks it was since you went away — I fail in calcuComtions; it seems so long to me since you went back to school that I set down days for years, and weeks for a score of years — not reckoning time by minutes, I don't know what to think of such great discrepancies between the actual hours and those which “seem to be”. It may seem long to you since you returned to Boston — how I wish you could stay and never go back again. Everything is so still here, and the clouds are cold and gray — I think it will rain soon. Oh, I am so lonely!… You had a windy evening going back to Boston, and we thought of you many times and hoped you would not be cold. Our fire burned so cheerfully I couldn't help thinking of how many were here, and how many were away, and I wished so many times during that long evening that the door would open and you come walking in. Home is a holy thing, — nothing of doubt or distrust can enter its blessed portals. I feel it more and more as the great world goes on, and one and another forsake in whom you pComce your trust, here seems indeed to be a bit of Eden which not the sin of any can utterly destroy, — smaller it is indeed, and it may be less fair, but fairer it is and brighter than all the world beside.
I hope this year in Boston will not impair your health, and I hope you will be as happy as you used to be before. I don't wonder it makes you sober to leave this blessed air — if it were in my power I would on every morning transmit its purest breaths fragrant and cool to you. How I wish you could have it — a thousand little winds waft it to me this morning, fragrant with forest leaves and bright autumnal berries. I would be willing to give you my portion for today, and take the salt sea's breath in its bright, bounding stead…
Your affectionate
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