紀伯倫：先知
Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet


第十二篇：論時間，On Time

　　一位天文家說，大師，時間是怎樣的呢？

　　他答道：

　　你們想度量那無限而不可測量的時間。

　　你們想按時序和季節調整你們的舉止，甚至引導你們的精神。

　　你們願意造一道時間的溪流，在岸邊目送流水逝去。

　　然而你們心中的無限，意識到生命的無限。

　　它知道昨天不過是今天的回憶，明天不過是今天的夢想。

　　因此，在你們體內歌唱和思考的它，依然處於將星星撒落天宇的那最初一瞬的境界中。

　　你們之中誰會感覺不到愛的力量無窮無盡？

　　誰會感覺不到愛雖然無窮無盡，卻仍羈束於他自身，無法在愛的思緒中和愛的行為中轉移？

　　難道時間不就像愛，是不可分割沒有間隙的麼？

　　但你們若認為以季節來衡量時間是必要的，那就讓每個季節都包含其他季節，

　　讓今天用記憶擁抱著過去，用希望擁抱著未來。

And an astronomer said, Master, what of Time?

And he answered:
You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.
You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.
Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.
And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?
And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?
And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless?

But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,
And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

第十四篇：論宗教，On Religion

　　一位年邁的祭司說，請給我們談談宗教。

　　他說道：

　　難道我今天所講的不都是麼？

　　難道宗教不是一切的行為和所有的反映，

　　以及那些既非行為又非反映，而是雙手鑿石或撫弄織機時湧入心田的一個奇跡和驚詫？

　　誰能夠將他的理念與行為分開，或將他的信仰與職責分開？

　　誰能夠將他的時間擺在面前說：「這份是上帝的，而那份是我的；這份屬於我的心靈，而那份屬於我的肉體？」

　　你們所有的時光都是在天空鼓翼、從一個自我飛向另一個自我的翅膀。

　　將道德視作最好的衣服穿在身上的人，不如赤裸著。

　　風和陽光不會使他們的肌膚傷裂。

　　以倫理規範自己行為的人，是將自己歌唱的鳥囚禁籠中。

　　最自由的歌不能從鎖鍊和鐵柵中傳出。

　　現膜拜為時開時閉的窗戶的人，尚未造訪他的心靈之屋，此屋的

　　窗戶從黎明到黎明永遠敞開。

　　你們的日常生活就是你們的聖殿和你們的宗教。

　　清帶著你們的一切進入它。

　　帶著犁耙和煉爐，極棒和琴瑟。

　　帶著你們因需要或喜愛而製出的常用之物。

　　因為在虔敬中，你們不可能升騰得比你們的成就更高，也不可能跌落得比你們的失敗更低。

　　帶著所有人進入它。

　　因為在崇拜中，你們不可能飛得比他們的希望更高，也不可能因自我菲薄而降得比他們的失望還低。

　　如果你們想認識上帝，那就不要去做解謎者。

　　環顧四周，你們會發現他在與你們的孩子玩耍。

　　仰望天空，你們會看到他在雲端漫步，在閃電中伸臂，在雨水中降臨。

　　你們會看到他在花叢中微笑，又在樹上揮手。

And an old priest said, Speak to us of Religion.
And he said: Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor re-flection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"
All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.
And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.
The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.
For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.

And take with you all men:
For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.
Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.