论爱

20140514

于是爱尔美查说:对我们说说爱吧。

他抬起头注视着人们,沉寂笼罩着四周。他用洪亮的声音说道:
当爱召唤你时,跟随他,
尽管他的道路艰难险峻。
而当他的翅膀环抱你时,依从他吧,
尽管羽翼中藏着的利刃可能会伤害你。
当他同你讲话时信任他,
尽管他的言语会粉碎你的梦幻,就像北风吹荒了花园。
因为爱虽然能为你加冕,却也能将你钉在十字架上;他虽然能让你生长,却也能将你刈剪。
他虽然能攀升到你的高处,抚弄你颤抖在阳光中的叶片,
却也能沉降到你的根部,撼动你附着在泥土中的根须。
他将你像谷穗一样捆扎起来。
他舂打你使你胸怀坦荡。
他筛分你使你摆脱无用的外壳。
他碾磨你使你臻于清白。
他揉捏你使你顺服。
然后他用他神圣的火焰来处置你,使你成为神圣宴上的圣餐。

所有这些都将是爱对你的所为,以使你知晓你内心的秘密,而那认知会让你化作生命内在的一部分。

但是倘若你在惧怕中只愿寻求爱的宁和与爱的欢愉,

那么你最好遮掩起你的赤裸逃离爱的谷场,
在没有季候的世界里,你能笑,却不能开怀,你能哭,却不能倾情。

爱所给的仅是他自己,他所带走的也仅是他自己。

爱不占有也不愿被占有;
因为对爱而言,爱已足够。

当你去爱时,你不要说“神在我心里”,而要说“我在神心中”。

也不要认为你能指引爱的行程,因为爱,倘若他发现你够资格,他会引导你的路途。

爱没有其他所求,只愿成全自己。

但倘若你去爱,就必定有渴望,让这些渴望是:
融化奔流的小溪,在暗夜里唱诵欢快的曲调。
体味出过分温柔中的苦痛。
让你对爱的理解伤害到自己,
并心甘情愿的流血。
黎明时怀着飞扬的心醒来,致谢爱的又一天,
正午时沉醉于爱的狂喜中休憩,
黄昏时带着感恩归家,
然后在内心为所爱的祈祷中入眠,让赞美的歌谣停留在唇间。

作者 / [黎巴嫩] 纪伯伦
翻译 / 王立

On Love

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 our roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. But if, in your fear, you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but it self and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love. Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a payer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Kahlil Gibran

 

 

纪伯伦的诗,和读睡所推送的绝大部分诗都不太一样。他无心构造一个别样的艺术世界,或美或幻,令人流连。严格一点说,纪伯伦不是在写诗,只是在讲道理:世界是这样,世界不是那样;爱是这样,爱不是那样;你要这样,你不要那样。类似这种写法的,还有吉卜林(Joseph Kipling),例如他给12岁儿子写的名作《如果》(If),那就是一篇吉卜林家训,押了韵的讲道理。

纪伯伦还要走得更远,他写的就是文艺版的《圣经》,《先知》一书也得了“小圣经”的名头。讲道理原本是诗的忌讳,理论从来都是灰色的、板结的,随着惯性要缩成几个等式的,与诗歌万花筒式的构造极不相容。但纪伯伦逆生长的功夫太好,从很容易讲死的道理,生发出各种蔓生的枝节,让人觉得这道理也摇曳多姿,美丽得很。或许道理讲到极真的时候——例如爱的严酷与险峻,就自动化身成诗的形态了吧。

荐诗 / 范致行
2014/05/14

 

 

题图 / Jan van der Kooi

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