话说君子兰

　　女作家李玲修在好多年前送给我的一盆君子兰，我把它供在书桌前的窗台上。那浓绿色的、剑形的、肥厚的叶子，武士般地相对列。每年两次当剑叶中间忽然露出一点桔*黄色时，家里的大人和小孩都高兴地奔走相告：君子兰又要开花了!

　　这实在是个喜讯。几十朵桔黄色的、五瓣聚成的筒形的花、向上开放。它们像高雅的君子般相拱而立。当花的大茎，愈长愈长，这几十朵君子兰便愈站愈高，静雅地立在那里，经月不谢!

　　我为此重新翻看了《论语》，因为至圣先师孔子，对于“君子”的定义，有几十条。但是我读来读去觉得“君子讷于言而敏于行”这句话就说的是君子兰!

　　我以为“言”就是花的香气，“行”就是花的形象和花期的久暂。君子兰花香很淡，而花色极浓，几十朵相拱而立，能够立到几十天!它们群立在你的面前给你力量，给你鼓舞。因此我虽然也喜爱玫瑰的浓香和桂花的幽香，但在数日之内，便瓣落香消，使人惆怅，而使我敬佩的还是君子兰!

　　1990年7月12日多云之晨

　　Gentleman Orchids

　　Quite a few years ago, the woman writer Li Lingxiu sent me an orchid plant. I put it on the windowsill above my bookcase. Its deep green, fleshy, sword-shaped leaves were lined up like a troop of soldiers. Twice a year among the leaves there would appear orange-coloured spots, and all the family, young and old, would dash around excitedly telling each other that the orchids were about to blossom.

　　That would be really good news. The dozens of flute-shaped orange flowers, each with five petals, would open upwards and stand like refined gentlemen bowing politely to each other. As the stems grew, the “gentlemen” would become taller and stand there in peaceful repose for a whole month without withering!

　　This prompted me to flip through the “Confucian Analects” once more. The revered sage Confucius had many definitions as to what constituted a gentleman, but the best quotation I could find to describe my gentleman orchids was “The gentleman is slow in speech but nimble in action.”

　　For “speech” I think of the orchids’ fragrance, and for “action” I think of the orchids’ shape and period of blooming. The gentleman orchids have a faint scent and a deep colour. Dozens of flowers would remain standing for days on end, bowing politely to each other. The sight of them is so uplifting. I am fond of the pungent scent of roses and the recondite perfume of Osmanthus, but their petals fade in a few days and their fragrance vanishes leaving me melancholy, and appreciating all the more the gentleman orchids.

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