Kahlil Gibran
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant ;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
编者按:本书选取的作品均为经典篇目,个别作品反映作者本人的宗教信仰,不代表本书要传达的价值观。
难词释义
beckon
v. 招手示意yield
v. 屈服;让步pinion
n. (鸟翼的)翼梢;翅膀;羽毛sheaf
n. 捆,束,扎thresh
v. 使脱粒;打(稻、麦等)sift
v. 筛(面粉、沙子等)grind
v. 碾碎;把……磨成粉knead
v. 揉,捏pliant
adj. 柔软的卡里·纪伯伦
当爱挥手召唤你们时,跟随着他,
尽管他的道路艰难而险峻。
当他展翼拥抱你们时,依顺着他,
尽管他羽翼中的利刃会伤害你们。
当他对你们说话时,要相信他,
尽管他的声音会击碎你们的梦,像狂风尽扫园中的花。
爱虽可为你们加冕,也能将你们钉上十字架。
他虽可助你们成长,也能将你们削砍剪刈。
他会攀至你们的高处,轻抚你们在阳光下颤动的最柔嫩的枝条,
他也会降至你们的根柢,动摇你们紧紧依附着大地的根须。
爱把你们像麦捆般聚拢在身边。
他将你们脱粒,使你们赤裸。
他将你们筛选,使你们摆脱麸糠。
他碾磨你们,直至你们清白。
他揉捏你们,直至你们柔顺。
而后,他把你们交与圣火,让你们成为上帝圣宴上的圣饼。
这一切都是爱为你们所做的,以使你们或许能从中领悟自己内心的秘密,从而成为生命之心的一小部分。
(Kahlil Gibran,1883 — 1931),黎巴嫩作家、诗人、画家,阿拉伯文学的主要奠基人。其主要作品有《泪与笑》《先知》《沙与沫》等。这篇《爱》选自他的巅峰之作《先知》。
Nathaniel Hawthorne
I do trust, my dearest, that you have been employing this bright day for both of us; for I have spent it in my dungeon , and the only light that broke upon me was when I opened your letter.
I am sometimes driven to wish that you and I could mount upon a cloud (as we used to fancy in those heavenly walks of ours). And be home quite out of sight and hearing of the world; for now all the people in the world seem to come between us. How happy were Adam and Eve!
There was no third person to come between them, and all the infinity around them only seemed to press their hearts closer together. We love one another as well as there is no silent and love garden of Eden for us. Will you sail away with me to discover some summer island?
Do you not think that God has reserved one for us, ever since the beginning of the world? Foolish that I am to raise a question of it, since we have found such an Eden, such an island sacred to us two whenever we have been together!
Men we are the Adam and Eve of a virgin earth. Now, good-bye; for voices are babbling around me and I should not wonder if you were to hear the echo of them while you read this letter.
难词释义
dungeon
n. (城堡中的)地牢infinity
n. 无限;无穷sacred
adj. 上帝的;神的;神圣的babble
v. 喋喋不休纳撒尼尔·霍桑
我确信,我最亲爱的,你一人为我们俩度过了这明媚的一天;因为我在这地牢里困了一天,照在我身上的唯一光线是打开你的信时才得到的。
我不时产生一个愿望,我多么想和你驾上一朵白云(就像我们曾经在醉人的漫步中常常幻想的一样),远离世俗喧嚣,因为现在你我之间似乎隔着人山人海。亚当和夏娃曾经多么幸福啊!
没有第三者介入他们中间,而他们周围无限的空间似乎让他们的心贴得更紧了。我们像他们一样彼此相爱,即使没有静谧可爱的伊甸园。你会跟我一道远航去寻觅夏日之岛吗?
你不觉得上帝在这个世界一开始就为我们保留了这样一个岛屿吗?我提出这样一个问题真是太愚蠢了,因为我们已经找到了这样的伊甸园,我们已经有了你我专属的神圣岛屿……只要我们在一起!
我们就是一块处女地上的亚当和夏娃。现在,再见了,因为我的周围一片嘈杂。不知道你在读此信时,是否也有这些声音的回声萦绕耳际。
(Nathaniel Hawthorne,1804—1864),美国心理分析小说的开创者,也是美国文学史上首位撰写短篇小说的作家,被称为美国19世纪最伟大的浪漫主义小说家。代表作品有《红字》《带七个尖顶的阁楼》《福谷传奇》等。本文是霍桑写给妻子的一封信。