《先知》(The Prophet)船的來臨

《先 知》

《先知》(The Prophet)是紀伯倫寫出的最優(yōu)美、最深刻的作品之一，是他詩歌創(chuàng)作的一個高峰。這部散文詩集對于紀伯倫，正如《吉檀迦利》之于泰戈爾，具有特殊意義。正是這部作品，給詩人帶來了世界性聲譽，使他當之無愧地置身于二十世紀東方乃至世界最杰出的詩人之列。

紀伯倫主張用"血"來寫作，《先知》就是他用多年的心血澆灌出來的藝術花朵。據一些傳記材料告訴我們，紀伯倫從青年時代起就開始醞釀這部作品了。最早的稿本是用阿拉伯文寫下的，后來才改用英文?！断戎吩啻涡薷模谄湔匠霭媲暗奈迥陜?，作者又曾五易其稿。一個更確鑿的材料證實，詩人雖然在"1918年5月6日"前已完成《先知》中的十六個章節(jié)，但剩下的部分(不足整個作品總量的一半)卻又是足足用了五年時間才完成的，可見作者精雕細刻的功夫。

1920年紀伯倫曾向友人談到創(chuàng)作《先知》燃起的熱情，他說："這本書現在充塞了我的生命，我睡覺時夢著它，醒來時想著它，吃喝時仍是它。"1921年春，紀伯倫累倒了，但他不愿放下手頭的工作，他帶著《先知》的稿子去波土頓進行"治療"。他對朋友表露心跡道：

"我怎么辦呢，難道放棄寫作和繪畫嗎，難道丟下《先知》嗎?——它還是一個嬰兒——是我的精神至今孕育的最好嬰兒.不，我將干到底：即令我的生命隨著它的結束而結束也罷!"

《先知》是一位嚴肅的作者以嚴肅的態(tài)度為嚴肅的讀者進行嚴肅的思考而寫下的一部嚴肅的作品。

在這部作品中，紀伯倫創(chuàng)造了一個充滿摯愛和睿智的東方哲人的形象。這位東方哲人具有阿拉伯人先知的美稱："艾勒一穆斯塔法"(即亞墨斯達法)。他滯留西方阿法利斯城十二載，終于盼到回歸自己東方故土的日子。在他登舟乘風歸去之前，向依依惜別的城民們作了情深意。長的臨別贈言，并回答了他們提出的有關愛與憎、生與死、哀與樂、美與丑、情與理、罪與罰、給與取、勞與逸、善與惡等二十六個問題，這些問題幾乎涉及了人類精神生活和物質生活的全部領域。

關于這位"先知"，紀伯倫說過，"他是我的第二次降生，又是我的第一次洗禮。他是使我成為一個站在太陽面前的自由人的唯一思想。這位先知，在我塑造他之前先塑造了我，在我把握他之前先把握了我，在他站在我面前向我灌輸他的情趣、愛好和主張之前，已先讓我跟在他后面走了千萬里"。紀伯倫通過這位主人公全面闡述了自己的人生哲學和社會理想。

《先知》的基本主題是人的發(fā)展和提高，即生命如何"向著無窮前進"，如何"赤裸地無牽掛地超騰"。紀伯倫認為，人類自身有三種特性："神性"，"人性"和"不成人性"。"神性"代表了人類的明天，"人性"代表了人類的今天，"不成人性"則代表人類的昨天。"神性"就是"無窮性"，是長了"翅翼"的生命，是人類的"真我"，"大我"，是"高人"或"巨人";"不成人性"，則是"侏儒"。"神性"，"巨人"，像"海洋"，像"太陽"，是人類的"白日";"不成人性"，"侏儒"，則是人類的"黑夜"。"巨人"幫著有翼者上升，使生命能在宇宙的"大生命"中尋求擴大，臻于完美，至善;"侏儒"則教人背向太陽，面對自己的陰影，墮于睡夢的煙霧，沉淪于黑暗之中。

紀伯倫通過"先知"之口，呼喚"神性"，要人們發(fā)掘自身"未知的珍寶"，捕捉"在天空中飛翔"的"大我"。他這樣昭示人類，讓人們看到自己的"真我"：

你們不是幽閉在軀殼之內，也不是閉錮在房舍和田野之中。

你們的真我是住在云間，與風同游。

你們不是在日中匍匐取暖，在黑暗里鉆穴求安的一只動物，

卻是一件自由的物事，一個包涵大地在以太中運行的魂靈。

擺脫動物性，發(fā)揚人性，走向"神性"，獲得"自由"，——這就是紀伯倫在《先知》巾為人類"升騰"規(guī)劃的"神"路歷程，光明大道。

為此，他要人們拋掉"祖宗的憂懼"，走出"那死人替人筑造的墳墓"，跟上"向無窮前進"的"生命大隊"的行列;他要人們時時聽從"愛"的召喚，把"美"當成向導，讓"理性"與"熱情"成為"航行的靈魂的舵與帆";他要人們去掉偽飾"面具"，擺脫"心上的桎梏與束縛"，讓生命"赤裸"地站在"陽光"下和"風"里;他要人們"相信生命和生命的豐富"，無保留地"無痛"地"施與"，"帶著仁愛"勞作。

紀伯倫曾經說過，他寫《先知》的目的是要探討"人與人"之間的關系。他確實這樣做了，但不僅僅是探討，而且有規(guī)范，"立法"之意。他提出了許多與傳統習見相左甚至相反的觀點，很值得讀者仔細玩味。

例如，他談到宗教信仰時，提出"你的日常生活，就是你的殿宇，你的宗教"，"假如你要認識上帝，就不要做一個解謎的人"，談到兩代人的關系時，指出，"你們的孩子，都不是你們的孩子。""他們雖和你們同在，卻不屬于你們"，"你們可以給他們愛，卻不可以給他們以思想"，"你們可以蔭庇他們的身體，卻不能蔭庇他們的靈魂"，"你們可以努力去模仿他們，卻不能使他們來像你們";談到婚姻時，提出，"彼此相愛，但不要做成愛的系鏈"，"快樂地 在一處舞唱，卻仍讓彼此靜獨"，"要站在一處，卻不要太密遜";談到友誼時，指出，尋找朋友并不是為了"消磨光陰"，也不是為了"填滿空腹"。

在《先知》中，紀伯倫很喜歡用一種"定義式"的語句來表達自己的獨特見解，給人以極為深刻的印象。例如他說"工作是眼能看見的愛";朋友是"有回答的需求"，"用愛播種、用感謝收獲的田地";"美是永生攬鏡自照";孩子是"從弦上發(fā)出的生命的箭矢"，等等，所有這些"定義"，都很新穎，且能觸到事物的本質。

《先知》的格調高雅，意境深邃，既有深思，又有美文，還充滿溫馨?！断戎钒炎x者引向生命的峰巔，讓人們俯瞰世界，審視人生，又得到愛與美的陶冶.正因為如此，《先知》一問世，就引起西方的一片轟動，被當成"東方贈予西方的最美好的禮物"。正因為如此，冰心先生對它那"滿含著東方氣息的超妙的哲理和流利的文詞"留下"極深印象"，一見到它就頓生移譯之念。正因為如此，阿拉伯著名文學評論家努埃曼才把它稱作"長青樹"，說它"深深扎根于人類生活的土壤里，只要人類活著，這株大樹就活著"。

The Prophet

by Kahlil Gibran

The Coming of the Ship

Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn onto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.

And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld the ship coming with the mist.

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.

But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart:

How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.

Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?

Too many fragments of the spirit have I scatterd in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.

It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.

Yet I cannot tarry longer.

The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.

For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.

Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that give it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.

And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbour, and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.

And his soul cried out to them, and he said:

Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides,

How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.

Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind.

Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,

Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.

And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,

Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,

Only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade,

And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.

And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the city gates.

And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from the field to field telling one another of the coming of the ship.

And he said to himself:

Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?

And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?

And what shall I give unto him who has left his plough in midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the wheel of his winepress?

Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?

And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups?

Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?

A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?

If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unrembered seasons?

If this indeed be the hour in which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.

Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern,

And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil and he shall light it also.

These things he said in words. But much in his heart remained unsaid. For he himself could not speak his deeper secret.

And when he entered into the city all the people came to meet him, and they were crying out to him as with one voice.

And the elders of the city stood forth and said:

Go not yet away from us.

A noontide have you been in our twilight, and your youth has given us dreams to dream.

No stranger are you among us, nor a guest, but our son and our dearly beloved.

Suffer not yet our eyes to hunger for your face.

And the priests and the priestesses said unto him:

Let not the waves of the sea separate us now, and the years you have spent in our midst become a memory.

You have walked among us a spirit, and your shadow has been a light upon our faces.

Much have we loved you. But speechless was our love, and with veils has it been veiled.

Yet now it cries aloud unto you, and would stand revealed before you.

And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

And others came also and entreated him.

But he answered them not. He only bent his head; and those who stood near saw his tears falling upon his breast.

And he and the people proceeded towards the great square before the temple.

And there came out of the sanctuary a woman whose name was Almitra. And she was a seeress.

And he looked upon her with exceeding tenderness, for it was she who had first sought and believed in him when he had been but a day in their city.

And she hailed him, saying:

Prophet of God, in quest for the uttermost, long have you searched the distances for your ship.

And now your ship has come, and you must needs go.

Deep is your longing for the land of your memories and the dwelling place of your greater desires; and our love would not bind you nor our needs hold you.

Yet this we ask ere you leave us, that you speak to us and give us of your truth.

And we will give it unto our children, and they unto their children, and it shall not perish.

In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep.

Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death.

And he answered,

People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now moving your souls?

船的來臨

被選和被愛的艾勒--穆斯塔法，當代的曙光，已在奧法利斯城等候了十二年，期待著他的航船前來迎他返回自己出生的島嶼。

時值第十二載，"頤露"月的第七日，他登上沒有城墻阻隔的山崗，眺望大海;他看到他的航船正從霧靄中駛來。

他的心胸豁然開朗，他的喜悅越過海面，流溢遠方。他輕閉雙眸，在靈魂的靜默中祈禱。

當他步下山崗時，卻有一陣悲哀襲來。他心中默想：

我怎能毫無愁緒、平靜地告別?不，我無法離開這座城市而不負任何精神創(chuàng)傷。

在這城垣中，我度過了多少漫長的痛苦日子，又經歷了多少漫長的孤寂夜晚;誰能夠毫無眷戀地離開他的痛苦和孤寂?

我曾將那么多心靈碎片撒落于這大街小巷，我曾有那么多希望之子赤裸地穿行于這丘陵山崗，我不能沒有負荷、沒有痛苦地棄之而去。

今天，我不是脫去一件罩衣，而是用自己的手撕裂一層肌膚。

我留在身后的不是一種思緒。而是一顆因饑渴而甜蜜的心。

但我卻無法再滯留。

那召喚一切的大海在召喚我，我必須登舟了。

因為盡管時光在夜晚燃燒，但留下卻意味著凍結，被禁煙于鑄模。

多么希望將這里的一切帶到身邊，但我怎么能夠?

聲音無法帶走賦予它翅翼的唇舌，它只能獨自尋找天空。

蒼鷹不攜巢禾，才能獨自飛越太陽。

他行至山腳，再次面向大海，看到他的航船已駛近港灣，船頭是來自故鄉(xiāng)的水手。

于是他的靈魂向他們發(fā)出呼喚，說道：

我古老母親的子孫，你們這弄潮的健兒，

多少次你們沉浮于我的夢境。如今你們駛入我的清醒，也就是我更深的夢境。

我已整裝待發(fā)，我的希望與揚起的帆一起等待著風起。

只想再呼吸一口這寧靜的氣息，再回首投下深情的一瞥。

然后我就會加入到你們的中間，宛如水手在水手中間。

而你，浩渺的大海，不眠的母親，

江河溪流推一的安寧與自由，

等這溪流再繞過一道彎，林中空地再傳來一陣溫偏低語，

我就會投入你的慈懷，猶如無窮之水滴融入無窮之大海。

行走間，他遠遠地看到男人們和婦女們離開了農田與果園，紛紛涌向城門。

他聽到他們呼喚著自己的名字，在田野奔走相告航船到達的消息。

他問自己：

莫非分別的一刻也是相聚的時分?

難道我的夜晚實際是我的黎明?

我能為那些放下耕田犁體、停下釀酒轉輪的人們奉獻什么?

是以心靈為樹，采摘累累果實與他們分享?

還是將渴望化作涌泉，傾滿他們的杯盞?

是作一架強者之手可以彈撥的豎琴，還是一管他們呼吸可以穿

過我身軀的長笛?

我是個尋求寂寞的人，我在寂寞中究竟覓得了什么寶藏，使我得以自信地施與?

如果今天是收獲的日子，那么我是在哪個被遺忘的季節(jié)和哪片土地上播撒的種子?

如果此刻的確是我舉起明燈的時候，那燈中燃燒的并不是我點燃的焰火。

我舉起的燈空虛而晦暗，

夜的守護者將為它添上油，點起火。

他用語言傾訴了這些，但還有許多未說出的話藏在心間。因為他自己也無法表達自己更深的秘密。

他回到城中，人們紛紛迎上來。他們異口同聲地呼喚著他。

城中的老者趨前說道：

請不要就這樣離開我們。

你一直是我們黃昏中的正午，你的青春引導我們的夢幻進入夢幻。

你并不是我們中間的陌生者，也不是過客，你是我們的兒子，我們誠摯愛戴的人。

不要讓我們的眼睛因渴望見到你的面容而酸楚。

男女祭司對他說道：

請不要現在就讓海浪將我們分開，讓你在我們中間度過的歲月成為回憶。

你似精魂在我們之中行走，你的身影是映在我們臉上的光輝。

我們一直如此熱愛著你。但我們的愛曾悄然無語，被面紗遮掩。

如今她大聲呼喚你，坦然無飾地面對你。

愛直到分別的時刻，才知道自己的深度。

其他人也走上前挽留他。但他沒有作答。他低首不語，身邊的人看到眼淚墜落到他的胸前。

他與大家一起走向圣殿前的廣場。

一位名叫艾爾梅特拉的女子迎出圣殿。她是一位女預言家。

他用無比溫柔的目光看著她，因為正是她在他到達這座城市的第一天就追隨他，篤信他。

她向他致賀，說道：

上帝的先知，為了尋求終極，你很久以來一直計算著你的航船的行程，

如今船只已到，你必須離去了。

你是如此深切地向往著你記憶的土地和你更大希冀之所;我們的愛不會羈絆你，我們的需要也不能滯留你。

不過，請你在離去之前對我們談談，為我們言說真理。

我們將把它傳給我們的子孫，他們再傳給他們的后代，使它永不湮滅。

你在孤獨中審視過我們的白晝，在清醒中傾聽過我們夢中的哭泣與歡笑。

因此現在請向我們披露我們自己，告訴我們你所知道的生與死之間的一切。

他回答道：

奧法利斯城的民眾啊，除了此刻激蕩于你們靈魂中的事物外，我還能說些什么呢!