節選自紀伯倫散文詩集《沙與沫》（Sand and Foam）
I am forever walking upon these shores,
Between 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.
我永遠走在這海岸上，在沙與沫之間
潮水漲起抹去我的足跡
海風吹走了泡沫
但永恆的是海與岸
Once I filled my hand with mist.
Then I opened it and looked, 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.
曾經我的手中滿是迷霧
我展開手時，迷霧是一條蟲
我的手握了又展，看到的是一隻鳥
我再次將手握了又展，空空之中佇立著一人，滿面愁容，昂首向天
再一次，我握緊了手，張開卻一無所有，只剩下迷霧
但，我聽到了一首歌，溫柔無比
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.
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."
Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, "Who are you?"
就在昨天，我還以為我只是碎屑一片，顫抖在生命的蒼穹之中，毫無節奏
而今我已明白，我就是蒼穹，生命全然是律動的碎片，就在我之中
他們醒來時對我說：“你和你存在的世界，只是沙粒，在無邊之岸，無涯之海。”
在睡夢中我對他們說：“我正是無涯之海，世上萬物只不過是我岸上的萬千沙粒。”
獨獨一次，我被迫沉默了。“你是誰？”那時一個人這樣問我。
The first thought of God was an angel.
The first word of God was a man.
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?
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.
上帝的第一個念頭是天使。
上帝的第一個詞語是人。
在大海和林間的風帶給我們語言之前的千萬年中，我們只是一群生物，飄蕩著，徘徊著，尋求著。
而今，僅用昨日之聲，我們怎樣才能描述我們心中的遠古時光呢？
斯芬克斯只說過一次話，斯芬克斯說：“一粒沙是一個沙漠，一個沙漠是一粒沙。現在就讓我們再次沉默吧。”
我聽到了斯芬克斯的話，卻不懂得。
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