10)On Clothes( 衣服)

The Prophet(先知)
Kahlil Gibran(哈利勒‧紀伯倫)

10)On Clothes 衣服

And the weaver said, Speak to us of Clothes.
織布工人說，跟我們談一談衣服吧。
And he answered:
他回答說︰
Your clothes conceal much of your beauty,
你的衣服遮掩了你大部份的美，
yet they hide not the unbeautiful.
卻遮掩不住那不美的地方。
And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harness and a chain.
你們想借著衣服得到隱私的自由，反而卻因此為之羈絆和束縛。
Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment.
如果你能多讓你的肌膚，而少以你的衣服去接納陽光和風。
For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.
因為生命的氣息在陽光裡，生命的手在風中。
Some of you say, "It is the north wind who has woven the clothes we wear."
你們有的人說︰「是北風為我們編織了衣服。」
And I say, Ay, it was the north wind.
而我說，是的，是北風。
But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread.
但北風以羞恥當織機，軟弱的肌肉當紗線。
And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.
當他完成工作之後，他便在林中狂笑。
Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean.
別忘了謙卑使眼睛隔絕不潔之人。
And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?
當不再有不潔之人時，謙卑除了只是思想的桎梏和褻瀆以外，還有什麼？
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
也別忘記，大地喜歡碰觸你的赤足，風渴望與你的髮絲嬉戲。