A Life Pen

一支生命的笔

Suppose someone gave you a pen — a sealed pen.

You couldn't see how much ink it had. It might run dry after the first few tentative words or last just long enough to create a masterpiece or several that would last forever and make a difference in the scheme of things . You don't know before you begin. Under the rules of the game, you really never know. You have to take a chance!

Actually, no rule of the game states you must do anything. Instead of picking up and using the pen, you could leave it on a shelf or in a drawer where it will dry up, unused. But if you do decide to use it, what would you do with it? How would you play the game? Would you plan and plan before you ever wrote a word? Would your plans be so extensive that you never even got to the writing? Or would you take the pen in hand, plunge right in and just do it, struggling to keep up with the twists and turns of the torrents of words that take you where they take you? Would you write cautiously and carefully, as if the pen might run dry the next moment, or would you pretend or believe that the pen will write forever and proceed accordingly ?

And of what would you write: Of love? Hate? Fun? Misery? Life? Death? Nothing?

Everything? Would you write to please just yourself? Or others? Or yourself by writing for others?

Would your strokes be tremblingly timid or brilliantly bold? Fancy with a flourish or plain?

Would you even write? Once you have the pen, no rule says you have to write. Would you sketch?

Scribble ? Doodle or draw? Would you stay in or on the lines, or see no lines at all, even if they were there? Or are they?

There's a lot to think about here, isn't there?

Now, suppose someone gave you a life pen.

假如有人给你一支笔——一支笔芯密封的笔。

你看不见里面有多少墨水。也许才尝试写了几个字，墨就用完了，抑或足够写一部或数部不朽的杰作，非同凡响。你开始书写前不得而知。按照游戏规则，你确实什么也不知道。你只有碰运气！

实际上，游戏中没有一条规则规定你必须做什么。你可以不把笔拿起使用它，而是把它放在架子上或抽屉里不用，任凭里面的墨水风干掉。如果你真的决定使用这支笔，你会怎样去书写呢？你会怎么玩这个游戏呢？你是否会筹划了又筹划才写出一个字？或者计划过于宏大而来不及动笔？或者会握着笔一头扎进去，不停地写，下笔千言，随着文字汹涌的浪涛而信马由缰？你会精心地去写，好像笔中的墨随时都可能耗尽，抑或自称或者相信这支笔用不完，可以永远写下去？

那么你会写什么呢？爱情？仇恨？乐趣？痛苦？生活？死亡？什么也不写？什么都写？你写作是为了愉己，还是为了悦人，抑或是替人书写而悦己？你的落笔会是颤抖胆怯的，抑或是鲜明果敢的？你的想象力会是丰富的，抑或是贫乏的？你会写吗？一旦笔在手，没有规定说你必须写。你会提纲挈领地写，抑或是浮皮潦草地写？胡乱涂鸦，抑或精心描述？你会在格子中写，在格子上写，抑或有格子也不按格子写？或者说它们是格子吗？

此中有真意，不是吗？

那么现在，假如有人送你一支生命的笔。