9)On Houses房屋

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

9)On Houses房屋

Then a mason came forth and said, Speak to us of Houses.
然後，一位水泥匠上前說︰請講一講房屋吧。
And he answered and said:
他回答說︰
Build of your imaginings a bower in the wilderness ere you build a house within the city walls.
你在城內建造房屋之前，且先以你的想像力在鄉野中蓋一間房舍吧。
For even as you have home-comings in your twilight,
因為當你在薄暮時分要回家，
so has the wanderer in you, the ever distant and alone.
在你內在的，永遠冷漠與孤獨的游人也要回家。
Your house is your larger body.
你的房屋便是你身體的擴大。
It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night; and it is not dreamless.
它在陽光中成長，在寂靜的夜晚安憩；而且它不是無夢的。
Does not your house dream, and dreaming, leave the city for grove or hilltop?
你的房屋不作夢嗎？不夢想著離開城市而往小樹林或小坡頂去嗎？
Would that I could gather your houses into my hand,
但願我能把你們的房屋都放在我的手中；
and like a sower scatter them in forest and meadow.
像播種者一般，把它們撒落在森林和草原上。
Would the valleys were your streets, and the green paths your alleys,
但願山谷成為你們的街道，綠徑作為你們的小巷，
that you might seek one another through vineyards,
而你們能穿過葡萄園彼此拜訪，
and come with the fragrance of the earth in your garments.
衣襟飄著泥土的芬芳而來。
But these things are not yet to be.
但這些事一時都還不能如願。
In their fear your forefathers gathered you too near together.
由於你們祖先生活在恐懼中，所以讓你們聚居太密集，
And that fear shall endure a little longer.
那恐懼還會持續一段時日，
A little longer shall your city walls separate your hearths from your fields.
你們的住家和田地仍然會被城垣分開一段時日。
And tell me, people of Orphalese, what have you in these houses?
告訴我，奧非裡斯的人們，你們的房屋裡有些什麼？
And what is it you guard with fastened doors?
你們鎖緊門戶，防衛的又是什麼？
Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?
你感到平和嗎？那足以激發力量的沈靜動力。
Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind?
你可有記憶？那是懸跨心靈群──的圓拱。
Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?
你有美嗎？那是引領著心靈從木石雕製品到聖山去的指標。
Tell me, have you these in your houses?
告訴我，你們的房屋有這些嗎？
Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort,
或者你們只有想要舒適和追求舒適的慾望？
that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest,
這些鬼祟東西任他們登堂入室為貴賓，
and then becomes a host, and then a master?
繼而為主，終而為主宰？
Ay, and it becomes a tamer and with hook and scourge makes puppets of your larger desires.
唉﹗它變成了馴獸師，用鐵鉤和鞭子操縱你們更大的慾望成為傀儡。
Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron.
雖然它的手柔軟如絲，可是心卻鋼硬似鐵。
It lulls you to sleep only to stand by your bed and jeer at the dignity of the flesh.
它哄你入眠，為的是要站在你床邊，揶揄你肉體的尊嚴。
It makes mock of your sound senses,
它玩弄你健全的感官，
and lays them in thistledown like fragile vessels.
將它們擺放在輕絮上，像很脆弱的器皿一般。
Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul,
的確，求舒適的慾望抹殺了靈魂的熱情，
and then walks grinning in the funeral.
而在葬禮上獰笑著。
But you, children of space, you restless in rest,
但你們，蒼穹的兒女們，你們即使在休息中，心靈也不安寧，
you shall not be trapped nor tamed.
你們不要落入陷阱中，不要被馴服。
Your house shall be not an anchor but a mast.
你們的房屋別讓它變成錨，而要它成為桅杆。
It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound,
它不應該是遮住傷口的發亮薄膜，
but an eyelid that guards the eye.
而要成為保護眼睛的眼瞼。
You shall not fold your wings that you may pass through doors,
你不要為了要透過門戶而收起雙翼，
nor bend your heads that they strike not against a ceiling,
也不必低頭以免碰到天花板，
nor fear to breathe lest walls should crack and fall down.
更不要因怕牆會崩落而不敢呼吸。
You shall not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the living.
你不要住在死者為生者建造的墳墓中。
And though of magnificence and splendour,
即使你們的房屋富麗莊嚴，
your house shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longing.
也不要讓它們掩住你的祕密或遮住你的渴望。
For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky,
因為在你內心無邊無際的願望其實是居住於天空之殿，
whose door is the morning mist,
晨霧是它的門，
and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night.
子夜的歌聲和寂靜是它的窗。