Touch Me
Touch Me is a soliloquy(獨白)composed by Hank Miller, about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. also known as “The Wall”. This monument is one of the most visited sites in the city of Washington.
-----By Hank Miller
(California professional photographer, freelance writer, former Naval Aviator, and a Vietnam veteran)
Touch me. Don’t be afraid. I can’t hurt you. Go ahead and touch my smooth surface. Feel the cold, glass-like smoothness and the crevices and lines that make me what I am. Use both hands if you wish. We are more similar than you dare to believe.
Touch my face. Yes, I have a face like yours. It has weathered the centuries as yours has the years. My face portrays my evolution. Yours, the birth and death of a generation. My face has aged like yours as we have endured together the testimony of earth elements.
I have eyes like yours. My inscriptions stare out at you as I search for the meaning of why we are here. I look into your eyes and see who you are. Who am I? I was formed millions of years past and now you see the results of my evolution.
I can feel your hands and the sweat from your palms flow into the countless combination of the letters that make me. I know you. I have known you since I was able to breathe in the air as my smoothness began to take shape and my color matured along with natural flaws. You have known me since the days when you came to take me from my mother.
You cannot hear me. I am static and unmoving. But, I can hear your murmurs and your cries of pain and sadness. Your sons and daughters ask why? There are no answers. I am very old. I have seen everything and I am none the wiser for the pain and suffering and I have witnessed since I rose from the bowels of the earth. I have witnessed the conflict, the death, the civilizations, and the societies that have come before you. Yet I remain mystified about this day.
I feel sad yet alive with a purpose. I have come to know those who are now an integral part of the reason for my being here at this place and time. That purpose has become apparent as I stand before you on this day while your brethren gather to witness my reflections and the changes of light that mirror your soul.
I am a reflection of you…
I am all of you…
I am your spirit..
I am The Wall.
撫摸我
撫摸我吧。別害怕。我不會傷害你,來吧,撫摸我光滑的皮膚。感覺玻璃般的冰冷與光滑,以及其中的裂縫和刮痕,感受我的存在。如果你愿意,請用雙手撫摸吧。我們的相似之處將超越你的想象。
撫摸我的臉。沒錯,我有著和你一樣的面孔。我的臉隨著時代的變遷而風(fēng)化,如同你的臉隨著歲月的流逝而逐漸蒼老。我的臉展示了我的世紀(jì)進(jìn)程。你的,則描繪了一生的滄桑曲折。當(dāng)我們一起忍受了塵世中風(fēng)雨的考驗時,臉上也被刻下了歲月的痕跡!
我有著和你一樣的眼睛。我的碑銘注視著你,仿佛在尋找生命的意義。讓我透過你的雙眼看看你是誰。而我又是誰?我已生存了數(shù)百年,你看到的是我最終的演變。
我可以感覺到你的雙手,汗水從手掌流入數(shù)不清的碑文的縫隙。我認(rèn)得你。從我可以呼吸,從我開始成型,從我的色彩在風(fēng)的侵襲下而越變濃烈時,我就認(rèn)識你。你也早已認(rèn)識我,當(dāng)你帶我離開母親時。
你聽不到我的聲音,因為我是靜止的。但我卻聽到了你的低聲訴語,你的痛苦哀號。你的子女們問“為什么?”這沒有答案。我已經(jīng)老了。我看到了一切。但我承認(rèn)面對自己所目睹的苦難滄桑我并不是一個智者。我目睹了戰(zhàn)爭、死亡、人類文明,還有你不曾經(jīng)歷的人類社會,但我至今依然困惑不解。
我感到悲傷,卻清楚地感受到自己存在的目的。我漸漸了解那些刻在我身上的名字,是他們讓我有了存在的理由。今天,當(dāng)你們圍聚在我身邊,看那些名字在我身上的反射,而光線的變化也折射出你們的靈魂——我越發(fā)清楚我存在的目的。
我是你的映像……
我是你的全部……
我是你的靈魂……
我就是那面墻……