英语阅读：关于母亲的英文文章--Mother's Hand

povypeng

Night after night, she came to tuck me in, even long after my childhood years. Following her longstanding
custom, she'd lean down and push my long hair out of the way, then kiss my forehead.

I don't remember when it first started annoying me — her hands pushing my hair that way. But it did annoy me, for
they felt work-worn and rough against my young skin. Finally, one night, I shouted out at her, "Don't do that
anymore—your hands are too rough!" She didn't say anything in reply. But neveragain did my mother close out my day with that familiar expression ofher love.

Time after time, with the passing years, my thoughts returned to that night. By then I missed my mother's hands,
missedher goodnight kiss on my forehead. Sometimes the incident seemed veryclose, sometimes far away. But always it lurked, in the back of my mind.

Well,the years have passed, and I'm not a little girl anymore. Mom is in hermid-seventies, and those hands I once thought to be so rough are stilldoing things for me and my family. She's been our doctor, reaching intoa medicine cabinet for the remedy to calm a young girl's stomach orsoothe the boy's scraped knee. She cooks the best fried
chicken in the world... gets stains out of blue jeans like I never could...

Now, my own children are grown and gone. Mom no longer has Dad, and on special occasions, I find myself
drawn next door to spend the night with her. So it was late on Thanksgiving Eve, as I slept in the bedroom of my
youth,a familiar hand hesitantly run across my face to brush the hair from myforehead. Then a kiss, ever so gently, touched my brow.

In my memory, for the thousandth time, I recalled the night my young voice complained, "Don't do that anymore —
yourhands are too rough!" Catching Mom's hand in hand, I blurted out howsorry I was for that night. I thought she'd remember, as I did. But Momdidn't know what I was talking about. She had forgotten — and forgiven— long ago.

That night, I fell asleep with a new appreciation for my gentle mother and her caring hands. And the guilt that I had
carried around for so long was nowhere to be found.中文译文