一个20多页的doc文档，本想两天译完，没想到在几个小地方卡住了。译多少算多少吧。随手译的未校对。

Sand and Foam
by Kahlil Gibran

I AM FOREVER walking upon these shores,
Betwixt the sand and the foam,
The high tide will erase my foot-prints,
And the wind will blow away the foam.
But the sea and the shore will remain
Forever.
我永远走在这些海岸边，
在沙与沫之间，
潮水会抹去我的足印，
风会将泡沫吹散，
但海与岸却将永存不变。
*
Once I filled my hand with mist.
Then I opened it and lo, the mist was a worm.
And I closed and opened my hand again, and behold there was a bird.
And again I closed and opened my hand, and in its hollow stood a man with a sad face, turned upward.
And again I closed my hand, and when I opened it there was naught but mist.
But I heard a song of exceeding sweetness.
我曾将迷雾握在掌心。
等我开掌一看，呀，迷雾变成一条虫。
我合掌又张开，瞧，它又变作一只鸟。
我合掌再张开，掌心中站着一个人，仰着忧郁的脸。
我又合掌，再打开看时，却只剩迷雾一团。
但我听到一只无比甜美的歌。

*
It was but yesterday I thought myself a fragment quivering without rhythm in the sphere of life.
Now I know that I am the sphere, and all life in rhythmic fragments moves within me.
昨天，我还以为自己只是一片在生命天穹中胡乱颤抖的碎屑。
现在我知道我就是那天穹，一切生命都在我胸中和谐地振颤。
*
They say to me in their awakening, “You and the world you live in are but a grain of sand upon the infinite shore of an infinite sea.”
And in my dream I say to them, “I am the infinite sea, and all worlds are but grains of sand upon my shore.”
他们在他们的大彻大悟中对我说：“你和你生存的世界只是无尽之海的无涯之岸上的一粒沙。”
我在我的梦中回答他们：“我就是那无尽之海，一切世界都只是我岸上的沙粒。”
*
Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, “Who are you?”
只有一次我哑口无言，当时有人问我：“你是谁？”
*
The first thought of God was an angel.
The first word of God was a man.
第一个想到上帝的是一个天使。
第一个说出上帝的是一个人。

（译者注：此段难解，仍需斟酌。）
*
We were fluttering, wandering, longing creatures a thousand thousand years before the sea and the wind in the forest gave us words.
Now how can we express the ancient of days in us with only the sounds of our yesterdays?
千万年以前，我们只是些扑飞、彷徨、渴求着的生物，直到大海和森林里的风赐予我们语言。
而今，我们如何用这昨日的声音，来描绘我们心中远古的岁月？
*
The Sphinx spoke only once, and the Sphinx said, “A grain of sand is a desert, and a desert is a grain of sand; and now let us all be silent again.”
I heard the Sphinx, but I did not understand.
斯芬克斯只开过一次口，它说：“一粒沙是一片沙漠，一片沙漠是一粒沙；现在让我们再沉默下去吧。”
我听见了斯芬克斯的话，可是我不明白。
*
Long did I lie in the dust of Egypt, silent and unaware of the seasons.
Then the sun gave me birth, and I rose and walked upon the banks of the Nile,
Singing with the days and dreaming with the nights.
And now the sun threads upon me with a thousand feet that I may lie again in the dust of Egypt.
But behold a marvel and a riddle!
The very sun that gathered me cannot scatter me.
Still erect am I, and sure of foot do I walk upon the banks of the Nile.
我久久躺在埃及的尘土里，默然无声，对岁月的流逝一无所知。
然后太阳给了我生命，我站起来，走上尼罗河的河岸。
与白昼共歌，与黑夜同梦。
现在，阳光在我身上踏上一千只脚，想让我再躺回到埃及的尘土里。
可你瞧，这真是一个奇迹，一个谜！
那赐我形体的太阳，无法再打碎我。
我依然挺立着，信步走在尼罗河的河岸上。

（译者注：此段感觉较好。）
*

Remembrance is a form of meeting.
怀念是相聚的一种方式。
*
Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.
遗忘是自由的一种方式。
*
We measure time according to the movement of countless suns; and they measure time by little machines in their little pockets.
Now tell me, how could we ever meet at the same place and the same time?
我们用无数太阳的运行衡量时间；而他们用口袋里的小机械衡量时间。
现在告诉我，我们怎么会在同一地点同一时间相聚呢？
*
Space is not space between the earth and the sun to one who looks down from the windows of the Milky Way.
对那从银河的窗口俯瞰者来说，大地与太阳之间并没什么空间可言。

（译者注：正如人类看不见蚂蚁的悲欢。）
*
Humanity is a river of light running from the ex-eternity to eternity.
人性是一条光明之河，从永恒之前奔向永恒。

（译者注：此译需斟酌。）
*
Do not the spirits who dwell in the ether envy man his pain?
那住在虚空中的精灵，难道不嫉妒人类的痛苦？

（译者注：当然嫉妒，因为虚空是生命不可承受之轻。）
*
On my way to the Holy City I met another pilgrim and I asked him, “Is this indeed the way to the Holy City?”
And he said, “Follow me, and you will reach the Holy City in a day and a night.”
And I followed him. And we walked many days and many nights, yet we did not reach the Holy City.
And what was to my surprise he became angry with me because he had misled me.
在去圣城的路上，我遇到另一位朝圣者，我问他：“这真是去圣城的路吗？”
他说：“跟我走吧，一天一夜之后你就能到达圣城。”
于是我跟着他，走了许多天许多夜，还没到达圣城。
令我吃惊的是，他竟然因为带错了路而迁怒于我。
*
Make me, oh God, the prey of the lion, ere You make the rabbit my prey.
上帝啊，在你把野兔变成我的猎物之前，让我作狮子的猎物吧。
*
One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
不经夜路，难抵黎明。

（译者注：此译甚佳。）
*
My house says to me, “Do not leave me, for here dwells your past.”
And the road says to me, “Come and follow me, for I am your future.”
And I say to both my house and the road, “I have no past, nor have I a future. If I stay here, there is a going in my staying; and if I go there is a staying in my going. Only love and death will change all things.”
我的屋子对我说：“别离开我，因为这儿住着你的过去。”
道路对我说：“来跟我走吧，因为我是你的未来。”
我同时对我的屋子和道路说：“我没有过去，也没有未来。如果我留在这儿，留中亦有所去，如果我离去，去中亦有所留。只有爱与死会改变一切。”
*
How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?
当那些睡在羽绒床上的人做的梦并不比那些睡在泥土上的人做的梦更美时，我怎会对生命的公正失去信心呢？
*
Strange, the desire for certain pleasures is a part of my pain.
奇怪，对某种快乐的渴望，是我痛苦的一部分。
*
Seven times have I despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.
The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.
我曾鄙视我的灵魂七次：
第一次我见她卑躬屈膝以得到高位。
第二次我见她在跛子面前跛行。
第三次她在难与易之间作选择，她选了易。
第四次她犯了错，却安慰自己说别人也犯错。
第五次她因软弱而忍让，却把她的隐忍说成勇气。
第六次她鄙视一张丑脸，却不知那只是她自己的面具之一。
第七次是她唱赞歌，却视之为一种美德。
*
I AM IGNORANT of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance and therein lies my honor and my reward.
我对绝对真理一无所知。但我谦卑于我的无知，我的光荣和报偿即在其中。
*
There is a space between man’s imagination and man’s attainment that may only be traversed by his longing.
只有渴望能跨越人的幻想与其成就之间的距离。
*
Paradise is there, behind that door, in the next room; but I have lost the key.
Perhaps I have only mislaid it.
天堂就在那儿，在门后，在隔壁；但我弄丢了钥匙。或许我只是放错了地方。
*
You are blind and I am deaf and dumb, so let us touch hands and understand.
你目盲，而我又聋又哑，那就让我们握手相互理解吧。
*
The significance of man is not in what he attains, but rather in what he longs to attain.
人的意义不在其所得，而在其所欲。
*
Some of us are like ink and some like paper.
And if it were not for the blackness of some of us, some of us would be dumb;
And if it were not for the whiteness of some of us, some of us would be blind.
我们有些人像墨水，有些人像纸。
若不是因为我们有些人的黑，有些人就会变哑。
若不是因为我们有些人的白，有些人就会变瞎。
*
Give me an ear and I will give you a voice.
给我一只耳朵，我会给你一个声音。
*
Our mind is a sponge; our heart is a stream.
Is it not strange that most of us choose sucking rather than running?
我们的思想是一块海绵，我们的心是一道激流。
大多数人宁愿吸水，而不奔流，难道不奇怪吗？
*
When you long for blessings that you may not name, and when you grieve knowing not the cause, then indeed you are growing with all things that grow, and rising toward your greater self.
当你渴望那无名者的祝福，怀抱无来由的烦恼时，你就与成长的万物一起长大了，升向你更伟大的自我。
*
When one is drunk with a vision, he deems his faint expression of it the very wine.。

（译者注：找不到合适的措辞，暂时跳过。）

*
You drink wine that you may be intoxicated; and I drink that it may sober me from that other wine.
你喝酒图醉，我喝酒是为了从别的酒醉中清醒过来。
*
When my cup is empty I resign myself to its emptiness; but when it is half full I resent its half-fulness.
当我的酒杯倾空时，我安于它的虚空；可当它半满时，我却恨它的半满。
*
The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you.
Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather to what he does not say.
他人的真相不在他向你揭示的事里，而在他无法向你揭示的事里。
所以，倘若你要了解他，不要听他说的，而要听他没说的。
*
Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you.
我说的话有一半毫无意义；但我说出来，是为了让另一半抵达你。
*
A sense of humour is a sense of proportion.
幽默感是一种分寸感。
*
My loneliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and blamed my silent virtues.
当人们赞美我多嘴的错误而羞辱我沉默的美德时，我的孤独油然而生。
*
When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.
当生命找不到一个人来歌唱她的心声时，她造出一个哲学家来说出她的想法。

（译者注：注意在纪伯伦用语中heart和mind的区别，heart指的是欲望、本能、真我等等，而mind指的是人的思想意识。）
*
A truth is to be known always, to be uttered sometimes.
真理虽常被知晓，却只偶尔被人说出。
*
The real in us is silent; the acquired is talkative.
我们的真我是沉默的，后天之我却多嘴多舌。
*
The voice of life in me cannot reach the ear of life in you; but let us talk that we may not feel lonely.
我的生命之声难入你的生命之耳，但让我们倾谈吧，以免感到孤独。
*
When two women talk they say nothing; when one woman speaks she reveals all of life.
两个女人谈的都是废话，一个女人说的却揭示了生命的一切。
*
Frogs may bellow louder than bulls, but they cannot drag the plough in the field not turn the wheel of the winepress, and of their skins you cannot make shoes.
蛙可能叫得比牛响，可它们拉不动田里的犁耙，转不动榨酒器的轮子，皮也做不了鞋。
*
Only the dumb envy the talkative.
只有哑巴才嫉妒多嘴之人。
*
If winter should say, “Spring is in my heart,” who would believe winter?
倘若冬天说：“春天在我心里，”谁会相信它？

(译者注：春天也许在它心里，也许是它的反面。）
*
Every seed is a longing.
每粒种子都是一个渴望。
*
Should you really open your eyes and see, you would behold your image in all images.
And should you open your ears and listen, you would hear your own voice in all voices.
你若真的睁眼去看，你会看到一切形象中你的形象。
你若侧耳去听，你会听到一切声音中你自己的声音。
*
It takes two of us to discover truth: one to utter it and one to understand it.
我们要两个人来发现真理：一个说出它，一个理解它。
*
Though the wave of words is forever upon us, yet our depth is forever silent.
虽然言词之浪总在我们头上咆哮，我们的深处却永远是静默的。
*
Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth.
很多学说就像一扇窗，我们通过它看见真理，而它也把真理与我们隔开。
*
Now let us play hide and seek. Should you hide in my heart it would not be difficult to find you. But should you hide behind your own shell, then it would be useless for anyone to seek you.
现在让我们来捉迷藏吧。你若藏在我心里，找到你并不难。可你若藏在你自己壳里，则任何人找你都是徒劳。
*
A woman may veil her face with a smile.
女人会用微笑遮掩她的脸。

（译者注：譬如朝雾。）
*
How noble is the sad heart who would sing a joyous song with joyous hearts.
那愿与欢乐的心同唱欢乐之歌的忧伤的心，多么高贵。
*
He who would understand a woman, or dissect genius, or solve the mystery of silence is the very man who would wake from a beautiful dream to sit at a breakfast table.
谁想了解一个女人，或剖析天才，或破解沉默之神秘，就像一个想从美梦里醒来、坐到早餐桌前的人一样。

（译者注：题外话：只梦不吃会饿死，只吃不梦是猪猡。）
*
I would walk with all those who walk. I would not stand still to watch the procession passing by.
我愿与行进者同行，我不愿呆站着看队伍走过。

（译者注：本人找不到队伍。）
*
You owe more than gold to him who serves you. Give him of your heart or serve him.
你欠那为你服务之人的，比金子更多。把你的心给他，要么就为他服务吧。
*
Nay, we have not lived in vain. Have they not built towers of our bones?
不，我们没有白活。他们不是用我们的骸骨建起高塔了么？
*
Let us not be particular and sectional. The poet’s mind and the scorpion’s tail rise in glory from the same earth.
让我们切勿挑剔和短视。诗人的思想与蝎子的尾巴是从同一片土地上灿然升起的。
*
Every dragon gives birth to a St. George who slays it.
每条龙都产生了一个屠龙的圣乔治。
*
Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper that we may record our emptiness.
树是泥土写在空中的诗。我们伐木造纸，来记录我们的空虚。
*
Should you care to write (and only the saints know why you should) you must needs have knowledge and art and music – the knowledge of the music of words, the art of being artless, and the magic of loving your readers.
你若想写作（天知道你为何有这种念头），必须拥有知识、技艺和音乐——关于词语音乐的知识、返璞归真的技艺、以及热爱你的读者的魔力。
*
They dip their pens in our hearts and think they are inspired.
他们把笔尖蘸在我们心里，觉得吸饱了灵感。
*
Should a tree write its autobiography it would not be unlike the history of a race.
倘若一棵树要写自传，与一个种族（或译“树种”）的历史应该没什么不同。

（译者注：个体的成长史是物种进化史的缩影。）

*
If I were to choose between the power of writing a poem and the ecstasy of a poem unwritten, I would choose the ecstasy. It is better poetry.
But you and all my neighbors agree that I always choose badly.
若要让我在写诗的能力和未写出的诗之狂迷间选择，我会选择狂迷。它更有诗意。
但你和我所有的邻居都认为我总是选错。

（译者注：我不选择狂迷，我要抓住它的尾巴，哪怕是一条断的尾巴。）
*
Poetry is not an opinion expressed. It is a song that rises from a bleeding wound or a smiling mouth.
诗并不是一种表达出来的意见。它是一支歌，出自流血的伤口或微笑的双唇。
*
Words are timeless. You should utter them or write them with a knowledge of their timelessness.
词语是永恒的。在说出或写下它们时，你应了解它们的永恒性。
*
A POET IS a dethroned king sitting among the ashes of his palace trying to fashion an image out of the ashes.
诗人是一个被废黜的国王坐在他宫殿的灰烬上，想从灰烬中造出一个形象。
*
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
诗就是很多的快乐、痛苦、惊奇和少许的寻章摘句。
*
In vain shall a poet seek the mother of the songs of his heart.
诗人要找寻其心灵之歌的母亲是徒然的。
*
Once I said to a poet, “We shall not know your worth until you die.”
And he answered saying, “Yes, death is always the revealer. And if indeed you would know my worth it is that I have more in my heart than upon my tongue, and more in my desire than in my hand.”
我曾对一个诗人说：“在你死前，我们不该了解你的价值。”
他回答：“是啊，死神总是一个揭秘者。倘若你真想了解我的价值，那就是我心中的比我说出的更多，我渴望的比我掌握的更多。”
*
If you sing of beauty though alone in the heart of the desert you will have an audience.
若你歌唱美，即便独处荒漠深处，也会有一个观众。
*
Poetry is wisdom that enchants the heart.
Wisdom is poetry that sings in the mind.
If we could enchant man’s heart and at the same time sing in his mind,
Then in truth he would live in the shadow of God.
诗是使心灵陶醉的智慧。
智慧是在头脑中歌唱的诗。
倘若我们能使人心灵陶醉，同时又在他头脑中歌唱，
他就会生活在真理中，在上帝的荫蔽之下。
*
Inspiration will always sing; inspiration will never explain.
灵感总在歌唱，灵感从不解释。
*
We often sing lullabies to our children that we ourselves may sleep.
我们常给孩子唱催眠曲以让我们自己入眠。
*
All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.
我们的一切言词，只是从我们意识的盛宴中掉落的碎屑。
*
Thinking is always the stumbling stone to poetry.
思考总是诗意之途的绊脚石。
*
A great singer is he who sings our silences.
伟大的歌手歌唱我们的沉默。
*
How can you sing if your mouth be filled with food?
How shall your hand be raised in blessing if it is filled with gold?
倘若你嘴里塞满食物，你怎能歌唱？
他若你手中抓满黄金，你怎能举手祝福？
*
They say the nightingale pierces his bosom with a thorn when he sings his love song.
So do we all. How else should we sing?
据说夜莺在唱情歌时用一根尖刺刺进胸膛。
我们都是这样。否则怎么歌唱？
*
Genius is but a robin’s song at the beginning of a slow spring.
天才是鸫鸟（知更鸟）在姗姗来迟的早春唱起的一支歌儿。

（译者注：知更鸟是报春的鸟，其它的鸟还没看见春天的时候，知更鸟就开始唱了。天才比常人更敏感，更有预见力也。）

*
Even the most winged spirit cannot escape physical necessity.
最善飞的精神也无法逃脱物理的法则。
*
A madman is not less a musician than you or myself; only the instrument on which he plays is a little out of tune.
一个疯子并不比你我更乏音乐才能，只是他演奏的乐器有点儿走调儿。
*
The song that lies silent in the heart of a mother sings upon the lips of her child.
静卧在母亲心中的歌儿，从孩子唇间唱了出来。
*
No longing remains unfulfilled.
没什么渴望是永不满足的。

（待续）