On Beauty
Kahlil Gibran

Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?
And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?

The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle.
Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."
And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.
Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."

The tired and the weary say, "Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit.
Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."
But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains,
And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."

At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."
And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say,
"We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."

In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."
And in the summer heat the reapers say,
"We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves,
and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."

All these things have you said of beauty,
Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,
And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.
It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.

It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,
But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.

People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

论美

纪伯伦著 长风译

你们在哪里能找到美？除非她自己成为你的道路，引导你，你如何能找到她呢？
除非她编织你的言语，你如何能谈论她呢？

悲痛受伤的人说：“美是仁慈与温柔。如同少妇略带羞涩但容光焕发地在我们中间行走。”
热情的人说：“不，美带着能力令人可畏。如同风暴震撼天地万物。”

疲乏劳累的人说：“美是温柔的耳语，她对我们的心灵说话。
我们的沉默使她声音低沉，如同微弱的光因惧怕阴影而颤动。”
不眠的人却说：“我们听见她在群山中呼号，伴随她呼声的，有奔跑的蹄声，振翅的回响，与狮子的吼叫。”

夜间守城的人说：“美与晨曦从东方一同升起。”
在烈日下的工人和行路人说：“我们曾看见她透过黄昏的窗棂光照大地。”

冬日踏雪外出的人说：“她要和春天一同来临，飞舞于山丘之间。”
炎热夏日里的收割者说：“我们曾看见她与秋叶共舞，飞扬的长发中有一丝雪意。”

这些都是你们形容美的话语。
事实上，你们所形容的不是她，而是你们那未曾满足的需要。
美不是需要而是极乐。
她不是干渴的口，也不是乞讨的手，

她是燃烧的心与陶醉的灵。

她不是你们肉眼所看到的形象，耳朵能听见的歌曲，

她是你们闭目时也能看见的形象，掩耳时也能听见的歌曲。
她不是树皮深沟间的汁液，也不是在利爪下挣扎的飞鸟。

她是一座园子，里面有永远盛开的鲜花和一群不住飞翔的天使。

奥菲利斯的民众呵，当生命揭开她圣洁的面纱，美就显明。