Chapter 31 "Sand and Foam"

(Lebanon) Gibran I walk forever on the beach, between sand and foam. The orgasm will erase my footprints and the wind will blow the foam away. But the sea and the sand will always be there. I once grabbed a handful of smoke. Then I stretched out my palm to see, ouch, the smoke turned into a bug. I held my hand and stretched it out to see, but it was a bird. I held and stretched my hands again, and in the palm of my hand stood a man with a melancholy face and his head raised to the sky. I closed my hand again, and when I reached out, there was nothing but smoke. But I heard a very sweet song.

Only yesterday I thought myself a fragment, trembling without rhythm in the firmament of life. I know now that I am the firmament and that all life is fragments turning rhythmically within me. They said to me when they awakened: "You and the world you live in are but a grain of sand on the boundless shore of the boundless ocean." In my dream I said to them, "I am the boundless ocean, and the world is but the grains of sand on my shore." The only time I was dumbfounded was when someone asked me "Who are you?" The first thought that comes to mind about God is an angel.

The first word for God is a person. We are flopping, drifting, seeking creatures thousands of years before the sea, and the wind in the forest gave us language. So how can we express the ancient times in our hearts with the voice of yesterday? The Sphinx spoke only once.Says the Sphinx: "A grain of sand is a desert, and a desert is a grain of sand; let us be silent now." I heard the words of the Sphinx, but I did not understand them. I have seen a woman's face, and I have seen all her unborn children. When a woman looks at my face, she recognizes my ancestors who died before her.

I want to complete myself.But unless I can become a planet inhabited by sane beings, what else is possible? Isn't that everyone's goal? A pearl is a temple of pain built around a grain of sand. What desires surround what grains of sand to build our bodies? When God dropped me, the pebble, into the wondrous lake, I disturbed its surface with myriad circles. But when I got down to the depths, I became very quiet. Give me silence and I will challenge the night. When my soul and body were married by love, I was born again. Once upon a time I knew a man who had extremely acute hearing, but he couldn't speak.In one battle he lost his tongue.

Now I know what battles this man fought before the great silence came.I am happy for his death. The world is not big enough for the two of us. I lay long on the sands of Egypt, silent and oblivious to the seasons. Then the sun gave me life, and I rose and walked on the banks of the Nile. Sing with the day, dream with the night. Now the sun tramples on me with a thousand feet, and I lie down again on the sands of Egypt. But behold a miracle and a mystery! The sun that gathers me together cannot scatter me. I am still standing upright, and I walk on the banks of the Nile with steady steps.

Memory is a form of meeting. We tell time by the movements of myriad suns; they tell time by the little machines in their pockets. So tell me, how can we meet at the same place and at the same time? For someone looking down from the window of the galaxy, space is not the space between the earth and the sun. Human nature is a river of light, flowing from eternity to eternity. Don't the spirits who live in the ether envy the suffering of the world? On the way to the holy city, I met another pilgrim, and I asked him, "Is this the way to the holy city?" He said, "Come with me, and in one day and one night we will reach the Holy City."

I just follow him.We walked for several days and nights, but we still hadn't reached the holy city. To my surprise, he took the wrong path and lost his temper with me. God, let me be the lion's prey, or let the rabbit be my prey. One cannot reach the dawn except by way of the night. My house says to me: "Don't leave me because your past lives here." The road said to me, "Come with me, because I am your future." I say to my house and my roads, "I have no past and no future. If I stay, I go in what I live; if I go, I live in what I go." Only love and death can change everything. "

How can I lose faith in the fairness of life when those who sleep on the fluff have no better dreams than those who sleep on the ground? Oddly enough, the desire for certain pleasures is also part of my pain. Seven times have I despised my soul: The first time was when she could rise and yet be meek. The second time was when I saw her limp before the lame man. The third time was when she was asked to choose difficult and easy, and she chose easy. The fourth time was when she did something wrong, but comforted herself by saying that others had also done something wrong. The fifth time she tolerated weakness and called her endurance strong.

The sixth time was when she scorned an ugly visage, not knowing it was one of her own masks. The seventh time was when she sang a carol, believing herself a virtue. I don't know what the absolute truth is.But I am humbled by my ignorance, and in that there is my honor and my reward. There is a space between man's fantasies and achievements, which can only be traversed by his aspirations. Paradise is over there, behind that door, in the next room; but I've lost the key. Maybe I just misplaced it. You are blind and I am deaf and dumb, so let's hold hands and get to know each other.

The meaning of a person is not what he achieves, but what he strives to achieve. Some of us are like ink, some are like paper. If it weren't for the fact that some people are black, some people would be dumb. If it were not for the fact that some are white, some would be blind. Give me an ear and I'll give you a voice. Our heart is a sponge; our heart is a river. Yet isn't it strange that most of us would rather absorb than rush? When you long for nameless gifts and harbor unreasonable troubles, you really grow up with all living things and ascend to your greater self. When a man is intoxicated with a vision, he takes the vague flavor of the vision for real wine.

You drink to get intoxicated; I drink to sober up from other kinds of intoxication. When my glass is empty, I let it be empty; but when it is half full, I hate it half full. The essence of a person lies not in the side he reveals to you, but in the side he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you want to understand him, listen not to what he says, but to what he does not say. Half of what I say is nonsense; I say it so that you may hear the other half. A sense of humor is a sense of proportion. My loneliness arises when people praise my fault for talking and blame me for my virtue of silence. When life can't find a singer to sing her mood, she produces a philosopher to express her mind. Truth is always known and sometimes spoken. Our real me is silent; the acquired me is talkative. The voice in my life does not reach the ear in yours; but to avoid loneliness let us talk. When two women talk, they say nothing; when a woman talks to herself, she reveals everything about life. Frogs may croak louder than oxen, but they cannot pull the plow in the field, nor pull the mill in the winery, nor make shoes from their hides. Only dumb people are jealous of talkative people. If Winter said, "Spring is in my heart", who would believe in Winter? Every seed is a wish. If you really open your eyes, you will see your own image in every image. If you open your ears to listen, you will hear your own voice among all sounds. It takes two of us to discover the truth: one to tell it and one to understand it. Though the waves of words are ever roaring above us, yet our depths are ever silent. Many theories are like a window through which we see the truth, but which also separates us from the truth. Let's play hide and seek.If you are hidden in my heart, it will not be difficult to find you.But if you hide in your shell, no one can find you. A woman can cover her face with a smile. How noble is the sad heart that can sing joyfully with the joyful heart. The man who wants to understand women, or the analytical genius, or solve silent mysteries, is the man who wants to wake up from a sweet dream and sit at the breakfast table. I would like to walk with those who walk.I would not stand still and watch the procession go by. You owe more than gold to those who serve you.Give your heart to him or serve him. No, we didn't live in vain.Didn't they make a fortress of our bones? Let's not be picky.The poet's mind and the scorpion's tail, both rise gloriously from the same ground. Every poisonous dragon produces a dragon-slaying Saint George. Trees are the poems that the earth writes in the sky.We chop them down to make paper so we can document our voids. If you will write (and only a sage knows why you write), you must have knowledge, art, and magic—knowledge of the music of words, art without affectation, and magic of loving your readers. They dip their pens in our hearts, and think they are inspired. It would not be like the history of a people if a tree also wrote its autobiography. If I had a choice between "the ability to write poetry" and "the joy of not writing poetry," I'd choose that joy.Because joy is better poetry. But you and all my neighbors agree that I always don't choose. Poetry is not an expressed opinion.It's a song that springs from a wound or a laugh. Words are timeless.You should understand its characteristics when you speak it or write it. The poet is an abdicated king, sitting in the ashes of his palace, trying to fashion an image out of the ashes. Poetry is an exchange of joy, pain, and wonder interspersed with words. It is in vain for a poet to seek the mother of his poetry. I once said to a poet, "We shall not know what you say until you are dead." He replied, "Yes, death is always a revealer. If you really want to know my opinion, it is that I have more in my heart than my tongue, and I desire more than I have in my hands." If you sing of beauty, even if you are in the middle of the desert, you will have an audience. Poetry is wisdom that captivates the heart. Wisdom is a poem sung in the mind. If we can captivate man's heart and sing in his mind at the same time, then he really lives in the shadow of God. Inspiration always sings; inspiration never explains. We often sing hypnotic songs to our children to lull ourselves to sleep. All our words are crumbs scattered from the feast of the mind. Thought is often a stumbling block to poetry. It is a great singer who can sing about our silence. How can you sing if your mouth is full of food? How can you raise a hand of blessing if your hands are full of money? They say that when the nightingale sings her love song, she drives the thorn into her own heart. We are all like that too.Can we sing otherwise? Genius is but a song that the robins sing at the beginning of late spring. Even the most sublime mind cannot escape material needs. The Madman is no less a musician than you or me, but the instrument he plays is a little out of tune. The poetry that was silent in a mother's heart is sung on the lips of her child. There is no wish that cannot be fulfilled. Me and the other me have never been quite the same.The essence of things seems to be stuck among us. Your other you always feels sorry for you.But your other you grows in sadness; then everything will be alright. There is no struggle between the soul and the body except in the hearts of those whose soul is asleep and the body is out of tune. When you reach the center of your being, you will find beauty in all things, even in the eyes of those who cannot see beauty. We live only to discover beauty.Everything else is a form of waiting. Sow a seed and the earth will give you a flower.Wish the sky a dream, and the sky will give you a lover. The day you were born, the devil died.You don't have to go through hell to meet angels. Many women have borrowed a man's heart; few women have possessed it. If you want to possess, you must not ask for it. When a man's hand touches a woman's hand, they both touch the everlasting heart. Love is a veil between lovers. Every man loves two women: the one a work of his imagination, and the other not yet born. A man who does not forgive women for their small faults will never appreciate their great virtues. A love that is renewed day by day, becomes a habit, and finally becomes slavery. Lovers embraced only one thing between them, not each other. Love and jealousy never talk. Love is a bright word written on a bright album by a bright hand. Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. If you don't know your friend in all circumstances, you'll never know him. Others weave your richest robes; eat your sweetest meals at other people's tables; and eat your most comfortable beds in other people's houses. So tell me, how can you separate yourself from others? Your mind and my heart will never be the same, unless your mind no longer dwells in numbers and my mind no longer dwells in clouds. We shall never understand each other unless we reduce our language to seven words. My heart, how can it be opened except by breaking it? Only deep sorrow and bliss can reveal your truth. If you want to be revealed, you must dance naked in the sun, or take up your cross. If nature hears our words of contentment, the rivers and rivers will not seek the sea, and winter will not become spring. How many of us could breathe air if she heard all the mean things we say? When you turn your back to the sun, you only see your own shadow. You are free before the sun by day, and you are free before the stars by night; and you are free when there is no sun, no moon, and no stars. But you are a slave to the one you love because you love him. You are also a slave to the one who loves you because he loves you. We are all beggars at the temple gate, and when the king comes in and out of the temple gate, each of us gets his share. But we're all jealous of each other, which is another way of belittling the king. You cannot eat more than your appetite.That half of the food belongs to others, and there is also a little bread left for uninvited guests. All houses are graves if they are not for hospitality. The kind wolf said to the innocent sheep: "Don't you come to the humble house?" The sheep replied: "We will be proud of building a mansion, if your mansion is not in your stomach." I stopped the guest at the door and said: "No need, just wipe your feet when you go out, and you don't need to wipe your feet when you enter the door." Generosity is not giving me what I need more than you, but giving me what you need more than I do. Surely you are charitable when you give, and turn your face away when you give, so as not to look at the shame of the receiver. The difference between the richest and the poorest is only one day of hunger and one hour of thirst. We often pay our yesterday's debt in advance from our tomorrow. I have also had visits from angels and demons, but I sent them away. When the angel comes, I say an old prayer and he gets bored; when the devil comes, I commit an old sin and he walks past me. All in all, it's not a bad prison; I just don't like the wall between my cell and the next cell; but I assure you, I don't want to blame the wardens and the people who built it . Those to whom you asked for fish and gave you vipers, perhaps they had only vipers to give.That would be considered generous on their part. Deception is sometimes successful, but it is often suicidal. You are truly forgiving when you forgive the murderer who never bleeds, the thief who never steals, the liar who never tells a lie. Whoever can put his finger on the line between good and evil is the one who can touch the edge of God's holy robe. How can you expect flowers to bloom from your hands if your heart is a volcano? What a strange way to deceive oneself!Sometimes I'd rather be hurt and deceived, so that I can laugh at people who think I don't know I'm hurt and deceived. What shall I say of a suitor who assumes the role of the suitor? Let the man who wipes his dirty hands on your clothes, take your clothes away.He may still need that dress, but you will never want it again. It is a pity that the money changer cannot be a good gardener. Please don't whitewash your congenital defects with acquired virtues.I'd rather have flaws, the same flaws as my own. How many times have I blamed myself for sins I didn't commit in order to make people feel comfortable in my presence. Even the masks of life are masks of deeper mysteries. You may judge others based only on what you know. Now tell me who among us is guilty and who is innocent. The truly fair one is the one who feels due to your sins. Only idiots and geniuses break man-made laws, they are closest to the heart of God. You only run fast when you are being chased. I have no enemies, O God!If I have an enemy, let him be equal to me, and let truth alone be the conqueror. When both you and the enemy are dead, you will be very friendly with him. A person may commit suicide in self-defense. A long time ago, a "person" was crucified because he loved others too much and was too cute. Strange to say, I ran into him three times yesterday. The first time he begged a policeman not to put a prostitute in jail; the second time he drank with a scoundrel; If what they say about good and evil is true, then my life is just one long crime. Mercy is only half fair. The only person who has been unfair to me in the past is the one person I have been unfair to my brother. When you see a man being brought into prison, say silently in your heart: "Perhaps he escaped from a narrower prison." When you see a man drunk, say silently in your heart, "Maybe he's trying to hide from something less beautiful." In self-defense I often hate; but if I were a stronger man, I need not use such weapons. How foolish he is to hide the hate in his eyes with a smile on his lips! Only those below me can envy me or hate me. I have never been envied or hated, I am not above anyone. Only those above me can praise me or despise me. I have never been praised or belittled; I am under no one. You say "I don't know you" to me, which is to praise me too much and insult you for no reason. How base I am to think myself generous, when life gives me gold and I give you silver! When you reach the heart of life, you will find that you are neither higher than the sinner nor lower than the prophet. It is strange that you pity the slow-footed man and not the slow-hearted one. Pity those who are blind in purpose, not those who are blind in heart. It is wiser for the lame not to break his crutch on the head of his enemy. How foolish is he who thinks that what he gives you in his pocket can take back from your heart! Life is a team.The slow person found that the team was moving too fast, so he stepped out; the fast-paced person found that the team was moving too slowly, and he also stepped out. If there is such a thing as sin in the world, some of us are doing it backwards, following in the footsteps of our ancestors. Some people control our children and rush to commit crimes. The really good guy is the one who hangs out with everyone who everyone thinks is bad. We were all prisoners, but some were in cells with windows and some were in cells without windows. The strange thing is that we use more force when we defend wrong than when we defend right. If we confessed each other's sins, we would laugh at each other for not being new. We too would laugh at the lack of innovation if we all disclosed our virtues. A man is above man-made laws until he sins against man-made usages; after that he is neither above nor below anyone. Government is an agreement between you and me.You and I are often wrong. Sin is another name for need, or a type of disease. Is there a greater fault than realizing the faults of others? If someone mocks you, you may pity him; but if you laugh at him, you must never forgive yourself. If someone hurts you, you can forget it; but if you hurt him, you must always remember. In fact, others are the most sensitive you, attached to another body. How rash you are when you want men to fly on your wings and cannot take out a feather. There used to be people who sat at my table, ate my food, drank my wine, and laughed at me when they left. When he came again to eat and drink, I ignored him; the angel laughed at me. Hatred is a dead thing, which of you would make a grave? The honor of the slain is that he is not the murderer. The protector of humanity is in its silent heart, never in its talkative mind. They think I'm crazy because I won't trade my time for money; I think they're crazy because they think my time can be valued. They set before us the most costly gold, silver, ivory, and ebony, and we before them heart and spirit; and they call themselves masters, and we are guests. I would rather be the smallest human being with dreams and the desire to fulfill them than to be the greatest human being without dreams and desires. The poorest man is the one who turns his dreams into gold and silver. We are all climbing the peak of our desires.If another climber steals your sack and purse, and fills the sack and weighs the purse, have pity on him; the ascent will add hardship to his body, and the burden will lengthen his journey. If, while you're emaciated, you see his flesh swell up, give him a step; doing so will increase your speed. You cannot judge a man beyond your understanding, and how little your understanding is. I will never listen to a conqueror preach to the conquered. The truly free man is the one who patiently bears the slave's burden. A thousand years ago my neighbor said to me: "I hate life because it is only a painful thing." Yesterday I walked through a cemetery, and I saw life dancing on his grave. Competition in nature is nothing but chaos yearning for order. Silence is a silent storm that blows down our dry branches; but it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth. I have spoken of the sea to a brook, and the brook thought me but an imaginary exaggerator; I have spoken of the brook to the sea, and the sea thought me an underestimating slanderer. How narrow-minded it is to exalt the busyness of the ants above the singing of the grasshoppers! The highest virtue in this world may be the lowest in another. Depth and height go in straight lines to depth and height; only vastness can run in circles. If it weren't for our concept of weight and length, we would stand in the same awe as we stand in front of the sun. A scientist without imagination is like a butcher with a blunt knife and old scales. But since we're not all vegetarians, what do you do? When you sing, the hungry man listens with his belly. Death is no closer to old age than to infants; so is life. If you must speak bluntly, do it bluntly; or be silent, because a man is dying near us. An earthly funeral may also be a heavenly wedding. A forgotten truth may die and leave seven thousand facts in its will for funerals and graves. We actually only talk to ourselves, but sometimes we speak a little louder so that others can hear us too. The obvious is: what is never seen until it is simply shown. If the Milky Way is not in my consciousness, how can I see it or understand it? Unless I'm a doctor among doctors, they won't believe that I'm an astronomer. Perhaps the sea defines a shell as a pearl. Maybe time defines coal as a diamond. Honor is the shadow of enthusiasm standing in the sun. Roots are flowers that despise honor. Outside of beauty there is no religion and no science. Every great man I've ever known has something small in his character; it's the small thing that prevents laziness, madness, or suicide. The truly great man is the one who neither oppresses nor is not oppressed. I will never believe that a man is moderate just because he killed sinners and prophets. Tolerance is a disease that harms lovesickness with arrogance. Worms can bend; but isn't it strange that even elephants bend? An argument can be a shortcut between two minds. I am the fire, and I am the dead branch, and one part of me consumes another part of me. We are all seeking the summit of the holy mountain; could not our journey be shortened if we used the past as a chart instead of a guide? Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it is too proud to weep, too solemn to laugh, too complacent to look at people. If I fill myself with everything you know, will I still have room for everything you don't know? I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the narrow-minded, and benevolence from the cruel, but it is strange that I am not grateful for these teachers. A stubborn man is a very deaf orator. The jealous silence is too loud. When you reach the end of what you should know, you are at the beginning of what you should feel. Hyperbole is truth in a tantrum. If you can only see what the light shows and only hear what the sound announces, then you are neither seeing nor hearing. A fact is a truth without gender. You can't be laughing and grim at the same time. Nearest to my heart is a king without a country and a poor man who knows no begging. A shameful failure is nobler than a proud success. Dig in any piece of land and you'll find treasure, but you should dig with the confidence of a farmer. Said a fox, being pursued by twenty horsemen and twenty hounds: "Of course they will kill me. But they must be very poor and clumsy. If twenty foxes rode twenty donkeys with twenty It's really not worth it if a wolf goes after a human being." It is our minds that are subject to our self-made laws, our spirits are never subdued. I am a traveler as well as a voyager, and every day I discover a new kingdom in my soul. A woman protested: "Of course it was a just war. My son died in that war." I said to life: "I want to hear death speak." Life raised her voice a little and said, "Now you hear him." When you have solved all the mysteries of life, you long for death, because it is just another mystery of life. Life and death are the two noblest expressions of bravery. My friend, you and I shall be forever strangers to life, strangers to each other, and strangers to ourselves, until the day you will speak and I will hear, make your voice mine; Standing in front of you feels like I am standing in front of a mirror. They said to me, "If you know yourself you can know everyone." I said, "Only when I seek out all men can I know myself." A person has two selves, one awake in the dark and one asleep in the light. The hermit is a part of the world that has been left behind so that he can enjoy the whole without disturbing or disturbing. Between scholars and poets stretches a green field?If a scholar walks through it, he becomes a sage; if a poet walks through it, he becomes a prophet. Yesterday I saw philosophers put their heads in baskets and sell them in the marketplace: "Wisdom, sell wisdom!" Poor philosopher!They must sell their heads to feed their hearts. A philosopher said to a scavenger: "I pity you, your work is hard and dirty." The scavenger said, "Thank you, sir. Tell me, what do you do?" The philosopher replied, "I study the minds, actions, and desires of men." The scavenger smiled while sweeping the street and said, "I pity you too." He who hears the truth is no weaker than he who speaks the truth. No one can draw a line between need and luxury.Only angels can do this, angels are wise and eager. Maybe angels are our higher minds in space. It is the true prince who finds his throne in the heart of the dervish. Generosity is giving more than one can afford, self-esteem is receiving less than one needs. You don't actually owe anyone a debt.You owe everything to everyone. People who lived before are living with us now.Of course none of us wants to be the host of a slow guest. He who desires the most lives the longest. They said to me, "Ten birds in a tree are worth one in your hand." But I said, "A bird with one feather in the tree is better than ten birds in the hand." Your pursuit of that feather is the winged life beneath your feet; no, it is life itself. There are only two elements in the world, beauty and truth; beauty is in the heart of the lover, truth is in the arms of the tiller. A great beauty held me captive, but an even greater beauty set me free from its grasp. Beauty shines brighter in the heart of the one who desires it than in the eyes of the one who sees it. I love the person who confides his heart to me, and I respect the person who reveals his dream to me.But why am I shy and even ashamed in front of those who serve me? A genius used to be proud of being able to serve a prince. Now they pride themselves on serving the poor. Angels know that there are too many practical people who eat the bread of dreamers from the sweat on their brows. Wit is often a mask.If you can tear it off, you will find a roused intellect, or a juggling intellect. The wise attribute the cleverness to me, and the stupid attribute the stupidity to me.I think they are both right. Only those who have secrets in their hearts can penetrate the secrets in our hearts. Those who can only share your happiness but not your suffering have lost a key among the seven gates of heaven. Yes, there is Nirvana in the world; it is the one that puts your children to sleep when it brings the sheep to the green pastures. *We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. Sorrow is a wall between two gardens. The world gets smaller when your joys and sorrows get bigger. Desire is half life, indifference is half death. The bitterest thing in our sorrows today is the memory of our joys yesterday. They said to me, "You must choose between your pleasure in this life and your peace in the world to come." I said to them, "I have chosen the pleasure of this life and the peace of the world to come. For I know in my heart that the greatest poet has ever written but one poem, and that poem is perfectly syllable." Faith is an oasis in the heart, and the camel team of thought will never reach it. When you seek your height, you will desire, but desire only for desire; you shall desire for hunger; you shall desire for greater thirst. If you betrayed your secret to the wind, you should not blame the wind for betraying your secret to the woods. Spring flowers are the winter dreams that angels talk about at the breakfast table. The weasel said to Yuexiaxiang: "Look at how fast I run, but you can't walk, and you can't crawl." 月下香对鼬鼠说：“*銧，最高贵的快腿，请你快快跑开吧！” 乌龟比兔子更能多讲些道路的情况。 奇怪的是没有脊骨的生物都有最坚硬的壳。 话最多的人是最不聪明的人，在一个演说家和一个拍卖人之间，几乎没有分别。 你应该感谢，因为你不必靠着父亲的名望或伯叔的财产来生活。 但是最应感谢的是，没有人必须靠着你的名誉或财产来生活。 只在一个变戏法的人接不到球的时候，他才能吸引我。 忌妒我的人在不知不觉之中颂扬了我。 在很久的时间，你是你母亲睡眠里的一个梦，以后她醒起把你生了下来。 人类的胚芽是在你母亲的愿望里。 我的父母愿意有个孩子，他们就生下我。 我要母亲和父亲，我就生下了黑夜和海洋。 有的儿女使我们感到此生不虚，有的儿女为我们留下终身之憾。 当黑夜来了而你也阴郁的时候，就坚决地阴郁着躺了下去。 当早晨来了而你还感着阴郁的时候，就站起来坚决地对白天说：“我还是阴郁的。” 对黑夜和白天扮演角色是愚蠢的。 他俩都会嘲笑你。 雾里的山岳不是丘陵；雨中的橡树也不是垂柳。 看哪，这一个似非而是的论断：深和高是比“折中”和“两可”更为相近。 当我一面明镜似地站在你面前的时候，你注视着我看到了自己的形象。 然后你说：“我爱你。” 但是实际上你爱的是我里面的你。 当你以爱邻为乐的时候，它就不是美德了。 不时常涌溢的爱就往往死掉。 你不能同时又有青春又有关于青春的知识。 因为青春忙于生活，而顾不得去了解；而知识为着要生活，而忙于自我寻求。 你有时坐在窗边看望过往行人。望着望着地，你也许看见一个尼姑向你右手边走来，一个妓女向你左手边走来。 你也许在无意中说出“这一个是多么高洁而那一个又是多么卑贱。” 假如你闭起眼睛静听一会，你会听到太空中有个声音低语说：“这一个在祈祷中寻求我，那一个在痛苦中寻求我。在各人的心灵里，都有一座供奉我的心灵的庵堂。” 每隔一百年，拿撒勒的耶稣就和基督徒的耶稣在黎巴嫩山中的花园里相会。他们作了长谈；每次当拿撒勒的耶稣向基督徒的耶稣道别的时候，他都说：“我的朋友，我恐怕我们两人永远、永远也不会一致。” 求上帝喂养那些穷奢极欲的人吧！ 一个伟大的人有两颗心：一颗心流血，另一颗心宽容。 如果一个人说了并不伤害你或任何人的谎话，为什么不在你心里说，他堆放事实的房子是太小了，搁不下他的胡想，他必须把胡想留待更大的地场。 在每扇关起的门后，都有一个用七道封皮封起的秘密。 等待是时间的蹄子。 假如困难是你东墙上的一扇新开的窗户，那你怎么办呢？ 和你一同笑过的人，你可能把他忘掉；但是和你一同哭过的人，你却永远不忘。 在盐里面一定有些出奇地神圣的东西。它也在我们的眼泪里和大海里。 我们的上帝在他慈悲的干渴里，会把我们——露珠和眼泪——都喝下去。 你不过是你的大我的一个碎片，一张寻求面包的嘴，一只盲目的、为一张干渴的嘴举着水杯的手。 只要你从种族、国家和自身之上，升起一腕尺，你就真成了神一样的人。 假如我是你，我决不在低潮的时候去抱怨大海。 船是一只好船，我们的船主是精干的；只不过是你的肚子不合适就是了。 我们想望而得不到的东西，比我们已经得到的东西总要宝贵些。 假如你能坐在云头上，你就看不见两国之间的界线，也看不见庄园之间的界石。 可惜的是你不能坐在云头上。 七百年以前有七只白鸽，从幽谷里飞上高山的雪峰。七个看到鸽子飞翔的人中，有一个说：“我看出第七只鸽子的翅膀上，有一个黑点。” 今天这山谷里的人们，就说飞上雪山顶峰的是七只黑鸽。 在秋天，我收集起我的一切烦恼，把它们埋在我的花园里。 四月又到，春天来同大地结婚，在我的花园里开出与众花不同的美丽的花。 我的邻人们都来赏花，他们对我说：“当秋天再来，该下种子的时候，你好不好把这些花种分给我们，让我们的花园里也有这些花呢？ 假如我向人伸出空手而得不到东西，那当然是苦恼；但是假如我伸出一只满握的手，而发现没有人来接受，那才是绝望呢。 我渴望着来生，因为在那里我将会看到我的未写出的诗和未画出的画。 艺术是从自然走向无穷的一步。 艺术作品是一堆云雾雕塑成的一个形象。 连那把荆棘编成王冠的双手，也比闲着的双手强。 我们最神圣的眼泪，永不寻求我们的眼睛。 每一个人都是已往的每一个君王和每一个奴隶的后裔。 如果耶稣的曾祖知道在他里面隐藏着的东西的话，他不会对自己肃然起敬吗？ 犹大的母亲对于儿子的爱，会比玛利亚对耶稣的爱少些吗？ 我们的弟兄耶稣还有三桩奇迹没有在经书上记载过：第一件是他是和你我一样的人；第二件是他有幽默感；第三件是他知道他虽然被征服，而却是一个征服者。 钉在十字架上的人，你是钉在我的心上；穿透你双手的钉子，穿透了我的心壁。 明天，当一个远方人从各各他①走过的时候，他不会知道这里有两个人流过血。 ①《圣经》中的地名，据称是古犹太耶路撒冷的一个刑场，相传耶稣即在该地被钉死于十字架上。——《外国文学季刊》编者他还以为那是一个人的血。 他也许听说过那座福山。 它是我们世上最高的山。 一旦你登上顶峰，你就只有一个愿望，那就是往下走入最深的峪谷里，和那里的人民一同生活。 这就是这座山叫做富山的原因。 我的每一个禁闭在表情里的念头，我必须用行为去释放它。 （部分刊于《世界文学》１９６３年１月号，全文刊于《外国文学季刊》１９８１年第２期。）