如果回归自然，各有不同的方式，后人总是尊重前人最后一次选择。一位朋友偶然讲起一件事，有如一篇小小说，听者动容。
There are various ways of returning to nature, but people generally respect the last wish made by their parents towards their journey’s end. A friend of mine incidentally related to me the following occurrence which, like a little story, is very touching:
在新开发的丛林里，一条蜿蜒的小径上，一个衣着素色的女人踽踽独行，径直走向林子里的一棵树。这里许多树大小参差不一，有的移植不久，不过都长得很快。在一个时期内，都挺直有神。新生的树叶嫩绿有生机。当然，有人专门护理这些纪念树。
In a newly opened-up forest, a quietly dressed woman walked all by herself on a winding path straight towards one of the trees. There were many trees of varying sizes, and some had just been transplanted, but all were shooting up fast, standing straight and stout and covered with light green young leaves. Evidently, some people had been put in charge of these memorial trees.
不知多少年来，这个女人总是带着一束鲜花默默地置于树根旁，然后仰起头来，对着树身凝视，翕动着她独有的小小嘴唇，既像独语，又像倾诉。她退后一步，打量她这树高了多少，细心地除去树下斑斑驳驳的落叶，向这颗移植多年的树倾身拥抱，亲了一下，轻轻摩挲树皮的皱纹，如同面对一个有生命的躯体。不久，她依依不舍的转身离去，消失在暮色渐浓的秋天最后一抹余晖里。
As she had been doing for we don’t know how many years, the woman stood silently beside the tree with a bunch of fresh flowers in her hand. She raised her head to fix her eyes on the tree and kept moving her unique small lips as if she were soliloquizing or sharing her innermost feelings with someone. She took a step back to assess how much the tree had grown in and softly removed the mottled fallen leaves under it. She bent forward to hug and kiss the tree that had been transplanted many years before, and gently stroked its wrinkled bark as if it were something alive. Then she reluctantly turned round and left, vanishing into the last rays of an autumn day in the deepening dusk.
一阵秋风吹过，树叶沙沙地响动，仿佛隐秘的私语。女人顿时回过身来，惟有她才能听懂私语的全部含意。于是喃喃自语向大树告诉。含着泪，走向她的归途。
At a sudden gust of the autumn wind, the tree rustled like it was whispering secretly and the woman, being the only person capable of understanding the full implications of the whisper, immediately turned round. Then, after mumbling a few words to the tree, she said goodbye to it and set out on her way home with tears in her eyes.
年复一年，小径上的女人孤独的背影，显得越来越苍老了。
As the years went by, the woman, a regular solitary visitor on the path, became older and older.
若干年后，这棵树长得更高大了，树冠缀满葱茏的树叶。它屹立在这片土地上，风吹来，满树充满生命的绿色更繁茂了。它对着苍穹，仰望太阳、月亮和星星的运行，与大自然亲密无间连成一片。
Several years later, the tree became even taller and was crowned with verdant foliage. It stood erect and became more and more luxuriantly green in the wind. It looked up at the firmament to watch the motions of the sun, moon and stars and thus merged itself with Mother Nature.
又过了些时候，靠近大树旁出现了一棵新移植的小树。小树很壮硕，也很安静。随着岁月递增，年长日久，大树和小树埋在泥土下的根茎错节，相互交织。两棵树下各埋着一个精致的小木盒，木盒里的骨灰，逐渐化为树根下的有机肥，融入树身内。两个老者相继以这样的方式回归自然，在大自然的怀抱中，生命得以延续。树上每一片小绿叶都蕴含着绿色的希望。
Another period of time afterwards, there appeared close to it a newly transplanted small tree. It was robust and quiet. With the passage of time, the roots of the two trees had become twined together. They each had a delicate small wooden cinerary casket buried underneath them. The ashes in the caskets had gradually turned into organic fertilizer passing into the trees trunks by way of the roots. The two elderly persons had successively chosen the same way of returning to nature so as to have life prolonged in the bosom of nature. Each tender leaf in the trees was pregnant with green hope.
这是真的，是一首歌颂树葬的诗篇。不用问他们是谁，是谁，就是谁。
It’s a true story. It’s a poem singing the praises of tree burial. No need to identify the two elderly people though. It could be any person.