24.

Pleasure

 

快乐
纪伯伦
云天 译

 

Then a hermit, who visited the city once a year, came forth and said, "Speak to us of Pleasure."

然后，一位一年进城一次的隐士走上前来说道，“给我们谈谈快乐吧。”

 

And he answered, saying:

他答道：

 

Pleasure is a freedom song,
But it is not freedom.
It is the blossoming of your desires,
But it is not their fruit.

快乐是一支自由之歌，
可它不是自由。
它是你们的愿望绽放的花，
但却不是愿望结出的果实。

 

It is a depth calling unto a height,
But it is not the deep nor the high.
It is the caged taking wing,
But it is not space encompassed.

快乐是深谷对高山的呼唤，
可它既不是深谷也非高山。
它是樊笼中展翅的鸟，
可它不是四周的天空。

 

Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song.

哎，的确， 快乐是一曲自由之歌。

 

And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.

我愿意你们全心去歌唱快乐；可我不愿你们在歌声里迷失你们的心。

 

Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.

你们中的一些年轻人追求快乐，似乎那是一切， 他们因而受到评价和指责。

 

I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.

我不会评价和指责他们。 我宁愿他们自己去寻找。

 

For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone:

因为， 他们会发现快乐， 而不仅仅是快乐：

 

Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.

快乐有七姊妹， 她们中最小的比快乐还漂亮。

 

Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?

你们难道没听说过，一个人挖树根却找到了宝？

 

And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.

你们当中的一些长者，回想酒醉时犯下的过错，在悔恨中追忆快乐。

 

But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.

但悔恨只是对心灵的蒙蔽， 却不是惩罚。

 

They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.

回首快乐时，他们应当心存感恩， 一如回忆夏天的收获。

 

Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.

但倘若悔恨带给他们安慰， 那就让他们得安慰吧。

 

And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;
And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.

你们当中有些人， 既不是有追求的年轻人， 也不是怀旧的长者；
因为惧怕追求与回忆，他们躲避一切快乐，免得轻视或冒犯灵魂。

 

But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.

然而, 他们的放弃即是他们的快乐。

 

And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.

因而， 虽然他们以颤抖的双手挖掘树根，他们仍然找到了宝。

 

But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?

但请告诉我，谁又能冒犯灵魂？

 

Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?

夜莺能冒犯夜的静谧吗？或者， 萤火虫可以冒犯星辰吗？

 

And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?

你们的火苗或烟尘会给风添加负荷吗？

 

Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?

你们以为灵魂是能够用棍子搅腾的一池静水吗？

 

Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.

通常，拒绝自己的快乐不过是把欲望埋藏在心灵深处。

 

Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?

谁又知道，今天看似被疏忽的，不会在明天守候呢？

 

Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.

就连你们的身体也知道自身的天性与合理的需求，因而不会受骗。

 

And your body is the harp of your soul,
And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

你们的身体是你们灵魂的竖琴，
让它奏放甜美的旋律还是困惑的声音， 取决于你们。

 

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"

现在， 你们在心中问，“我们该如何识别快乐中的利弊呢？”

 

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

走入你们的田野和花园，你们将了解，采集花蜜是蜜蜂的快乐，
但为蜜蜂产蜜也是花朵的快乐。
因为， 对于蜜蜂， 花朵是生命的源泉，
而对于花朵， 蜜蜂是爱的使者，
对蜜蜂与花朵二者而言， 快乐的施与受是需求，更带来狂喜。
奥法利斯的人们啊， 象花朵与蜜蜂般，在你们的快乐中沉醉吧。