Road Metal
Timothy McBride
-- for my grandmother, Margaret Kelly
"You don't need that," she'd tell us when we'd beg
Two cents for bubblegum or licorice.
A bricklayer's daughter, she'd grown up hard
As cement -- never reached 100 pounds,
Lived on potatoes and tea, cut her own hair.
Husband gone, youngest child killed in the street,
She carried a ball peen hammer up her sleeve
On the daily walks she made us take all over town,
Crossing the river and the canal, circling the miles
Of Eastman Kodak's smokestacks, through the invisible
Hops-scented cloud of the Genesee Brewery,
Past the burned-out storefronts of the '67 riots,
Never stopping at the church where the brother
She wouldn't speak to, a Catholic priest,
Celebrated morning mass. We followed her
Through drain pipes and alleys1. We crawled under a gap
在線作文批改系統(tǒng)，<a href=http://www.zequeka.cn/jiaoshoulanmu/>易優(yōu)名師作文批改</A>
She found in the fence beside the KEEP OUT sign
And up onto the tracks of the New York Central Line,
Startled when she unclasped (this once) her change purse
And gave us each three pennies to lay on the polished rail.
When the tank cars and ore jennies had passed,
We sifted2 through the ballast rock
She said was called "road metal," excited as prospectors
For the ruined and unspendable glints of warm copper
Lincoln's face flattened3 to a smudge
Our first lesson in what our city's daily freight
Can do to words like "God" and "Trust."
1 alleys
胡同，小巷( alley的名詞復(fù)數(shù) )； 小徑
參考例句：
I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我緊隨他穿過一條條迂迴曲折的窄巷。 The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子們領(lǐng)我穿過迷宮一般的街巷，來到城邊。 易優(yōu)作文網(wǎng)，中小學(xué)學(xué)生學(xué)作文的好網(wǎng)站（http://www.zequeka.cn）
2 sifted
v.篩( sift的過去式和過去分詞 )；篩濾；細(xì)查；詳審
參考例句：
She sifted through her papers to find the lost letter. 她仔細(xì)在文件中尋找那封丟失的信。 來自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》 She sifted thistles through her thistle-sifter. 她用薊篩篩薊。 來自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》
3 flattened
[醫(yī)]（水）平扁的，弄平的
參考例句：
She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇緊貼著窗戶。 I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身體緊靠著墻讓他們通過
