“亲爱的奶奶，你不知道;你过着旧世界的生活，在家里吱吱作响的屋檐下，躲避着暴风雨和纷争;摇着摇篮，盖着被子，为婴儿的脚织袜子，或者把淡紫色的袋子缝在一起，让亚麻布保持甜蜜:女儿、妻子和母亲轮流出现，每个人都有一个无可指责的乳房，然后在夜幕降临时祈祷，安静地入睡。“奶奶，你千万别以为我是在讥笑你，因为你的日子过得很充实，从来没有人比你更忠实地走着古老的路。”祖父去世了，但在他活着的时候，你紧紧地依恋着他，我知道，母亲的心就像她的眼睛一样，直接从你那里来到她身边。如果美好的旧时光，以美好的旧节奏，在美好的旧沟槽里运行，我敢肯定，没有人能做得比你们都做得更好。“可是，奶奶，自从你年轻的时候以来，世界已经发生了奇妙的变化;它的思想和它们完全不同，说话的语言也不同。把人的心拴在家里的栅栏断了，绳索断了;他像风和浪一样自由自在，像泡沫一样变换着他的海岸。 He drives his furrows through fallow seas, he reaps what the breakers sow, And the flash of his iron flail is seen mid the barns of the barren snow. ``He has lassoed the lightning and led it home, he has yoked it unto his need, And made it answer the rein and trudge as straight as the steer or steed. He has bridled the torrents and made them tame, he has bitted the champing tide, It toils as his drudge and turns the wheels that spin for his use and pride. He handles the planets and weighs their dust, he mounts on the comet's car, And he lifts the veil of the sun, and stares in the eyes of the uttermost star. ``'Tis not the same world you knew, Granny; its fetters have fallen off; The lowliest now may rise and rule where the proud used to sit and scoff. No need to boast of a scutcheoned stock, claim rights from an ancient wrong; All are born with a silver spoon in their mouths whose gums are sound and strong. And I mean to be rich and great, Granny; I mean it with heart and soul: At my feet is the ball, I will roll it on, till it spins through the golden goal. ``Out on the thought that my copious life should trickle through trivial days, Myself but a lonelier sort of beast, watching the cattle graze, Scanning the year's monotonous change, gaping at wind and rain, Or hanging with meek solicitous eyes on the whims of a creaking vane; Wretched if ewes drop single lambs, blest so is oilcake cheap, And growing old in a tedious round of worry, surfeit, and sleep. ``You dear old Granny, how sweet your smile, and how soft your silvery hari! But all has moved on while you sate still in your cap and easy-chair. The torch of knowledge is lit for all, it flashes from hand to hand; The alien tongues of the earth converse, and whisper from strand to strand. The very churches are changed and boast new hymns, new rites, new truth; Men worship a wiser and greater God than the halfknown God of your youth. ``What! marry Connie and set up house, and dwell where my fathers dwelt, Giving the homely feasts they gave and kneeling where they knelt? She is pretty, and good, and void I am sure of vanity, greed, or guile; But she has not travelled nor seen the world, and is lacking in air and style. Women now are as wise and strong as men, and vie with men in renown; The wife that will help to build my fame was not bred near a country town. ``What a notion! to figure at parish boards, and wrangle o'er cess and rate, I, who mean to sit for the county yet, and vote on an Empire's fate; To take the chair at the Farmers'Feast, and tickle their bumpkin ears, Who must shake a senate before I die, and waken a people's cheers! In the olden days was no choice, so sons to the roof of their fathers clave: But now! 'twere to perish before one's time, and to sleep in a living grave. ``I see that you do not understand. How should you? Your memory clings To the simple music of silenced days and the skirts of vanishing things. Your fancy wanders round ruined haunts, and dwells upon oft-told tales; Your eyes discern not the widening dawn, nor your ears catch the rising gales. But live on, Granny, till I come back, and then perhaps you will own The dear old Past is an empty nest, and the Present the brood that is flown.'' ``And so, my dear, you've come back at last? I always fancied you would. Well, you see the old home of your childhood's days is standing where it stood. The roses still clamber from porch to roof, the elder is white at the gate, And over the long smooth gravel path the peacock still struts in state. On the gabled lodge, as of old, i