一直以為等到有一天我過了求偶期就會戒了讀情詩的習慣，奇怪的是：沒有！
我對情詩裏的男女、女女、男男究竟有沒有從此過著幸福快樂的日子完全不關心。這就很詭異了，讀情詩的激越從何而來？後來，我在 A.S.Byatt 的
Possession: A Romance 裡找到答案。
情詩充滿「可能」。兩個人還沒真正建立關係之前，一切都指向期待者自我假設的美好幻夢。也就是說，那是虛構的、半自我欺騙的企劃書。
情詩的文字模糊詮釋提供「誤讀」遊戲。詩的簡短湊巧可以讓虛構幻象變得具體：揉圓即圓、搓扁即扁。
情詩幾乎都是正能量的電廠。因為兩人尚未衝撞、磨合，所有的背叛、離棄、沮喪、不滿負能量都還沒出現。
這是「熱人」的情詩，連冬雪都可以是溫的！
All day snow fell
Snow fell all night
My silent lintel
Silted white
Inside a Creature—
Feathered—Bright—
With snowy Feature
Eyes of Light
Propounds—Delight.
(By fictional character Christabel LaMotte in POSSESSION: A ROMANCE)
其實，生物學家和神經科醫生有完全不一樣的看法：「愛癮」也是一種病，是腦子分泌出差錯的結果--風流情種 Don Juan 症，大概就是需要治療的病患，免得一次又一次掉入痛苦的深淵。這樣的人，終其一生都在和不認識的人搞曖昧，過度解讀他人的微笑和眼神，享受一次一次又一次的失戀鞭笞，視為絶爽的經驗。聽說很多人已經意識到這種精神症狀而求醫。
不敢行動的人可以用「讀詩」的動作取代真實的戀愛與失戀，反正只是幻想迷戀（possession），也不曾企圖佔有（possession）！不過，不管是影像的刺激或是文字的撓搔，「讀詩反應」都會通向萬能的大腦，讓腦子分泌「九層雲霄感」：這時候心跳加快、面色潮紅、右手不自覺按向左胸企圖壓抑那一吋立方的酸點、舌頭變成不隨意肌如同夢魘一般喊出---A-G-O-N-Y！
（好了！以上這一段是不是很像民國七十年【雨教傳奇班】的【教育心理學】上課內容？還客氣呢！何老師不只講這些啦！她還講「腳踏車」啦、「顛簸的路」啦、然後的反應感覺啦…不過既然她還刻意將班上男生女生分開上課，而我當時問了Butcher男生上課的內容，也只得到一個Sphinx般謎樣的微笑，不如先打住吧！反正何老師上了一堂「青少年跨門檻」啟蒙課就是！上完那一堂，我們就可以和 TEENAGE 告別，正式進入二十歲！）
到了我這中年的年紀，喜歡唸情詩的原因，假如也用「激越」這詞兒，原因是詩裡頭散發出來的亮點，是那種與我無涉的欣喜--人類居然能用少少幾個字來說明情緒狀況!!!
Emily Dickinson 也寫了一大堆「情詩」，可是離群索居 Emily式的愛情不企圖佔有，最終變成所有「冷人」的迷戀。
I cannot live with you,
It would be life,
And life is over there
Behind the shelf
The sexton keeps the key to,
Putting up
Our life, his porcelain,
Like a cup
Discarded of the housewife,
Quaint or broken;
A newer Sevres pleases,
Old ones crack.
I could not die with you,
For one must wait
To shut the other’s gaze down,
You could not.
And I, could I stand by
And see you freeze,
Without my right of frost,
Death’s privilege?
Nor could I rise with you,
Because your face
Would put out Jesus’.
That new grace
Glow plain and foreign
On my homesick eye,
Except that you, than he
Shone closer by.
They’d judge us - how?
For you served Heaven, you know
Or sought to;
I could not,
Because you saturated sight,
And I had no more eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise.
And were you lost, I would be,
Though my name
Rang loudest
On the heavenly fame.
And were you saved,
And I condemned to be
Where you were not,
That self were hell to me.
So we must keep apart,
You there, I here,
With just the door ajar
That oceans are,
And prayer,
And that pale sustenance,
Despair!
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圖片來源:超棒的希羅神話網站,可以直接用作補充教材:
http://www.thanasis.com/homewk01.htm
