金银花开得正旺。金银两色，先银后金。花丛边的空气中，有股淡淡的清香。
气味是回忆的触媒，此刻闻到金银花香，瞬时想到母亲。小时候有个感冒发烧，母亲总是用干金银花泡水给我喝。
看到在金银花丛中采蜜的蜜蜂，心想蜜蜂如患感冒，闻了花香采了花蜜，感冒是不是也会好得快一些？
以前每年这时节，母亲会让在乡下的舅舅到野外摘金银花，晒干后找时间送到家里，或自己过去拿。收到后，母亲定要打开包装袋闻一闻。如我刚好在身边，她会对我说：“你也闻闻，pèng香~（家乡万载话，很香）”。
香气的谐音“想起”。诗人余光中闻到腊梅香想起母亲，“給我一朵臘梅香啊臘梅香，母親一樣的臘梅香，母親的芬芳，是鄉土的芬芳，給我一朵臘梅香啊臘梅香”。
摘了两朵金银花，一金一银。回家放到母亲的像前🙏
The Fragrance of Honeysuckle
The honeysuckle is in full bloom now. Its blossoms are two-toned—silver first, then gold. A faint, fresh fragrance lingers in the air around the flowers.
Scent is a catalyst for memory. The moment I caught the fragrance of honeysuckle, I instantly thought of my mom. When I was a child and caught a cold or had a fever, she would always brew dried honeysuckle for me to drink.
Seeing bees collecting nectar among the honeysuckle blooms, I wondered—if a bee ever caught a cold, would the scent and nectar of these flowers help it recover faster?
In past years, around this same time, my mom would ask my uncle in the countryside to pick wild honeysuckle. After drying it, he would either bring it over or she’d go and collect it herself. Once she received it, she would always open the bag and take a deep breath of the aroma. If I happened to be nearby, she would say to me: “Come smell it too—pèng xiāng~” (our hometown dialect from Wanzai, meaning “very fragrant”).
The word for fragrance (xiāngqì) sounds like the word for remembrance (xiǎngqǐ). The poet Yu Guangzhong once recalled his mother upon smelling the scent of wintersweet:
“Give me a blossom of wintersweet, ah wintersweet—like my mother, the scent of wintersweet, the fragrance of my mother, is the fragrance of my homeland. Give me a blossom of wintersweet, ah wintersweet.“
I picked two honeysuckle blossoms—one gold, one silver. Brought them home, placed them in front of my mother’s portrait. 🙏