Darius and the Clouds
You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful. Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it.
Darius, who doesn"t like school, who is sometimes stupid and mostly a fool, said something wise today, though most days he says nothing. Darius, who chases girls with firecrackers or a stick that touched a rat and thinks he"s tough, today pointed up because the world was full of clouds, the kind like pillows.
You all see that cloud, that fat one there? Darius said, See that? Where? That one next to the one that look like popcorn. That one there. See that. That"s God, Darius said.God? somebody little asked. God, he said, and made it simple.
大流士和云
你永远不能拥有太多的天空。你可以在天空下睡去，醒来又沉醉。在你忧伤的时候，天空会给你安慰。可是忧伤太多，天空不够。蝴蝶也不够，花儿也不够。大多数美的东西都不够。于是，我们取我们所能取，好好地享用。
大流士[ 也是古代波斯帝国国王的名字。一代雄主大流士大帝在位期间（前522—前486），对内强化君主专制，对外实行大规模军事扩张，使得波斯帝国进入全盛期。自命不凡的他曾在贝希斯敦的悬崖上刻下铭文：“我，大流士，伟大的王、万邦之王、波斯之王……我是国王。”后世因此尊他为“万王之王”。]，不喜欢上学的他，有时很傻，几乎是个笨人，今天却说了一句聪明的话，虽然大多数日子他什么都不说。大流士，喜欢用爆竹，用碰过老鼠的小棍子去追逐女孩，还以为自己很了不起的他，今天却指着天空，因为那里有满天的云朵，像枕头样的云朵。
你们都看到那朵云了，那朵胖乎乎的云了？大流士说，看到了？哪里？那朵看起来像爆米花的旁边的那朵。那边那朵。看，那是上帝。大流士说。上帝？有个小点的问道。上帝。他说。简洁地说。