后来,当我在高于海潮的水潭入口附近驻足时,四周已笼罩着玫红色的晨光。从我立足的峭岩底部,一块被青苔覆盖的礁石伸向大海的最深处。海水拍击着礁石周围,水藻上下左右地漂动,像皮革般滑溜溜、亮闪闪。通往隐藏的小洞和洞中水潭的路径是那些凸现的礁石。偶尔一阵强于一阵的波涛,悠然地漫过礁石的边缘,并在岩壁上击成水沫。在这波涛间歇的时间足以让我踏上礁石,足以让我欣赏那仙境般的水潭。那平时不露面,露面也只是一瞬间的小潭。
我跪在那海苔藓铺成的湿漉漉的地毯上,向那些黑洞里窥探,就是这些黑洞把水潭环抱成浅盆模样。洞的底部距离顶部只有几英寸,一面天造明镜使得洞顶上的一切生物都倒映在下面纹丝不动的水中。
在透明如镜的水底,铺着一层碧绿的海绵。洞顶上一片片灰色的海蛸闪闪发光,一堆堆柔软的珊瑚披着淡淡的杏黄色衣裳。就在我朝洞里窥探时,从洞顶上挂下一只小海星,仅仅悬在一条线上,或许就在它的一只管足上。它向下接触到自己的倒影。多么完美的画面!看上去不是一只海星,而是一对海星。水中倒影的美,清澈的水潭本身的美,这都是些稍纵即逝的事物所体现的强烈而动人心扉的美——海水一旦漫过小洞,这种美便不复存在了。
The shore is an ancient world,for as long as there has been an earth and sea there has been this place of the meeting of land and water.Yet it is a world that keeps alive the sense of continuing creation and of the relentless drive of life.Each time that I enter it,I gain some new awareness of its beauty and its deeper meanings,sensing that intricate fabric of life by which one creature is linked with another,and each with its surroundings.