致橡树

If I love you --

I will never be a clinging trumpet creeper

Using your high boughs

to show off my height

If I love you --

I will never be a spoony bird

Repeating a monotonous song

for green shade

Or be a spring

Bringing cool solace all year long

Or be a steep peak

Increasing your stature,

Reflecting your eminence

Even the sunlight

Even the spring rain

No, all these are not enough

I must be a ceiba tree beside you

Be the image of a tree

standing together with you

Our roots, entwined underground

Our leaves, touching in the clouds

With each gust of wind

We greet each other

But nobody

Can understand our words

You'll have your copper branches

and iron trunk

Like knives, like swords, like halberds, too

I'll have my crimson flowers

Like heavy sighs

And valiant torches

We'll share cold spells,

storms and thunder

We'll share mists, hazes and rainbows

Seemingly always apart

But also forever interdependent

Only this can be great love

The loyalty is here

Love --

I love not only your strapping stature

But also your firm stand,

the earth beneath you

“我如果爱你——绝不像攀援的凌霄花，借你的高枝炫耀自己；我如果爱你——绝不学痴情的鸟儿，为绿荫重复单调的歌曲；也不止像泉源，常年送来清凉的慰藉；也不止像险峰，增加你的高度，衬托你的威仪。甚至日光，甚至春雨。不，这些都还不够！我必须是你近旁的一株木棉，作为树的形象和你站在一起。根，紧握在地下；叶，相触在云里。每一阵风过，我们都互相致意，但没有人，听懂我们的言语。你有你的铜枝铁干，像刀，像剑，也像戟；我有我红硕的花朵，像沉重的叹息，又像英勇的火炬。我们分担寒潮、风雷、霹雳；我们共享雾霭、流岚、虹霓。仿佛永远分离，却又终身相依。这才是伟大的爱情，坚贞就在这里：爱——不仅爱你伟岸的身躯，也爱你坚持的位置，脚下的土地。”

——舒婷