Published: June 28, 2025
道别时，你还是个粗壮的青年，
归来时，却只是一张沧桑的黑白肖像。
叫我如何不心痛！
我撕心裂肺地呐喊，穿越不了岁月，
回不到当初，只能一遍遍哀求：
「啊叔啊，莫走啦……」
那天，那个在码头目送你的小女孩，
如今已是风烛残年的老太婆。
面对你孙仔第一次带回家的照片，
我仿佛又站在那天的码头，
听见你笑着问我： 「囡仔，欲共啊叔、啊婶做伙下南洋无？」
你望向那从未想象过的地平线，
再回头看着这片从未离开过的村庄，
轻声说： 「等我赚到钱就回来，
予咱大家嘛有饭吃，有好日子过。」
可你那时，还只是一个二十出头的年轻人啊……
离乡背井，心肝底嘛是惊的，是无？
那微笑背后藏着希望，
也藏不住你的不安与惶恐。
这些年来，船来船往，
却再未见你的身影。
今嘛，你总算归来了——
回家了， 再嘛也不走了。
When you left, you were still a strong young man.
When you came home, you were nothing more than a weathered black-and-white portrait.
How could my heart not ache?
I cried out my soul, but my voice could not pierce through the decades.
I couldn’t go back to those days,
All I could do was plead again and again:
“Oh Uncle, don’t go…”
That little girl who watched you leave at the pier that fateful day,
Is now an old woman in her twilight years.
Looking at the photo your grandson brought home for the first time,
I felt as if I were once again standing at that pier,
Hearing you laugh and ask me:
“Little one, do you want to go to Nanyang with Uncle and Aunt?”
You looked toward a horizon you had never imagined,
Then turned to look at this village you had never once left,
And softly said:
“When I’ve made some money, I’ll come back,
So we can all have full bellies and better days.”
But you were just a young man in your early twenties then…
Leaving home, weren’t you feeling scared deep down?
Behind that smile, your hope lit up,
But you couldn’t hide your unease and fear.
All these years, boats have docked and sailed away,
But never once did we see your silhouette among them.
Now, at last, you have returned—
You’ve come home,
And this time, you’ll never leave again.
2.6.2025
