南橫之春

冬末春初的午後，我們幾乎是靜謐南橫山道上唯一一部車。沒有特定目標的旅行，見到好景就駐車欣賞。 行至半山，路旁出現花海。正要開著貨車下山的老夫妻親切地跟我們說，狗已經綁好了，可隨意賞花。 梅桃櫻李，是哪種花呢？仔細觀察，花沒梗，又花葉齊放，大概是桃花吧！
順著山坡上的小徑走入花樹間，發現見不到盡頭，剛剛遇到的那對老夫妻應該是在此座山谷中種桃的果農。
 
在此賞花不用人擠人，不用躲相機腳架，彷彿誤入桃花源。 想想，這是頭一回在深山中的果園賞花。 想起每隔一陣子網路上就會瘋傳「世界上最美的小路X條」，文中的路大多是被花樹圍繞，那眼前的這條桃花路也稱得上其一了吧！ Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

走著走著，前方出現叉路，更讓我想起美國詩人Robert Frost的名詩「The Road Not Taken」。同樣的心境，我選擇右邊這條。
 
粉白桃花小徑，是南橫裡的春天。
 
告別了山谷裡的桃花源後，我們來到霧鹿。
 
在馬里蘭溪畔，遇見一片山壁上的浪漫。
走上已成危橋的霧鹿舊橋，仰望這片山櫻花林。
 
絕壁之櫻，依舊是初體驗。 藏身山林深處的春，孤芳自賞。 春訪南橫，發現山裡的祕密花園。

台灣旅行手札上一篇“南橫初訪—霧鹿峽谷"