《先知》(The Prophet)时间

And an astronomer said, "Master, what of Time?"

And he answered:

You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.

You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?

And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not form love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?

And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless?

But if in you thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

时间

一位天文家说，大师，时间是怎样的呢?

他答道：

你们想度量那无限而不可测量的时间。

你们想按时序和季节调整你们的举止，甚至引导你们的精神。

你们愿意造一道时间的溪流，在岸边目送流水逝去。

然而你们心中的无限，意识到生命的无限。

它知道昨天不过是今天的回忆，明天不过是今天的梦想。

因此，在你们体内歌唱和思考的它，依然处于将星星撒落天宇的那最初一瞬的境界中。

你们之中谁会感觉不到爱的力量无穷无尽?

谁会感觉不到爱虽然无穷无尽，却仍羁束于他自身，无法在爱的思绪中和爱的行为中转移?

难道时间不就像爱，是不可分割没有间隙的么?

但你们若认为以季节来衡量时间是必要的，那就让每个季节都包含其他季节，

让今天用记忆拥抱着过去，用希望拥抱着未来。