《先知》(The Prophet)衣服

And the weaver said, "Speak to us of Clothes."

And he answered:

Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.

And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harness and a chain.

Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment,

For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.

Some of you say, "It is the north wind who has woven the clothes to wear."

But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread.

And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.

Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean.

And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

衣服

一位織工說，請給我們談談衣服。

他答道：

你們的衣服遮掩了你們許多的美，卻不能遮蓋住丑。

盡管你們借衣服尋求隱私的自由，但你們找到的卻是羈絆和束縛。

但愿你們用自己的肌膚而不是衣服去迎接陽光和清風，

因為陽光中有生命的氣息，而風中有生命之手。

你們中一些人說："是北風織造了我們所穿的衣服。"

我說，是的，的確是北風，

但它以羞怯為織機，以纖弱的肌腱為紗線。

它一旦完成工作，便會在林中大笑。

不要忘記，羞怯原是抵擋不潔目光的盾牌。

若無邪狎，那羞怯除了是精神上的束縛和污垢外還能是什么?

也不要忘記，大地樂于感覺體赤裸的雙腳，風兒渴望與你的頭發(fā)嬉戲。