for she was alive long before father and mother were born -- no doubt about that! grandmother had a hymn book with a big silver button to lock it, and she used to read it there was a rose in the book; it was very flat and dry it was not as beautiful as the rose in her glass bottle, but it was only to this flower that she smiled her tenderest smile and even brought tears to her eyes

i don&39;t know why grandma looked at a withered rose in an old book like that you know what every time my grandmother&39;s tears fell on the flower, its color immediately became bright again the rose opened and the whole room was filled with fragrance all four walls fell down as if they were nothing more than a layer of smoke around her appeared a beautiful green wood; sunlight filtered through the leaves and grandmother -- well, she was young again she was a beautiful little girl, with curls of golden hair and a round red face, beautiful and elegant, and no rose was so bright as her and her eyes, those gentle, pure eyes, were always so gentle and pure next to her sat a man, so healthy and so tall he gave her a rose, and she smiled -- grandma could not smile like that now! yes, she smiled but he was gone, and many thoughts, many images floated before her the beautiful young man was gone now, and only the rose lay in the hymn book grandmother -- yes, she was an old woman now, still sitting there -- looked at the withered rose lying in the book

and now grandma&39;s dead she used to sit in her armchair and tell a long, long story from the children&39;s fairy tales work

&34;now that i have finished,&34; said she, &34;i am tired; let me get some sleep&34; so she leaned her head back and took a breath then she slowly quieted down, and her face showed a happy and quiet expression, as if the sun were shining on her face so people said she was dead

she was put in a black coffin she lay there, wrapped in layers of white cloth she was so beautiful and gentle, though her eyes were closed all her wrinkles were gone, and a smile appeared on her lips her hair was so silver, so solemn look at this dead person, and you will not be afraid at all -- this gentle, kind old grandmother the hymn book was placed under her head, for it was her will the rose still lies in the old book that&39;s how they buried grandma

on a grave by the church wall, a rose was planted it was full of flowers the night camp sang on the flowers and the grave the organ in the church played the most beautiful hymns -- hymns from the book of poems that had been placed under the dead man&39;s head the moon shone on the grave, but the dead man was not there even in the dead of night, every child could safely walk there and pick a rose by the cemetery wall a dead man knows more than we living the dead knew the horror we would feel if we saw them the dead are better than all of us, so they don&39;t show up anymore the coffin was full of earth the coffin was full of earth the hymn book and its pages became dirt, and the rose full of memories became dirt but on the earth, new roses bloom, the nightingales sing, the organ plays music, and people think of the old grandmother with the big, gentle, ever-young eyes eyes never die! our eyes will see grandmother, young and beautiful grandmother, as she did when she first kissed the bright red rose that now lies in the grave and turned to earth”

不知从什么时候起，我竟然迷迷糊糊睡了过去。

收音机还在继续，只是我已经听不到声音了。

再次醒来的时候，睁眼便是一个有些冰冷的怀抱，舟抱着我，似是陷入了深沉的睡眠。

可惜我刚一睁眼，舟便醒了过来。

“小爱你睡了好久”

我看着舟，心里忽然觉得，他眼底有一层青黑，这样疲惫的样子，是我多年来未曾见过的。

“你究竟，在做什么？”

舟闭着眼，轻轻笑了起来，修长的手指在背后轻轻理顺我的发丝。

“这对你来说，重要吗？”

“为什么不重要，这难道不是生死攸关的大事？”

舟低声笑了起来。

“的确是，对你来说，是这样的”

我眨了眨眼：“我是不是应该求求你”