於是一個泥水匠走上前來說，請給我們談居室。
他回答說：
當你在城裡蓋一所房子之前，先在野外用你的想像蓋一座涼亭。
因為你黃昏時有家可歸，而你那更迷茫、更孤寂的漂泊的精魂，也有個歸宿。
你的房屋是你的較大的軀殼。
他在陽光中發育，在夜的寂靜中睡眠；而且不能無夢。
你的房屋不做夢麼？不夢見離開城市，登山入林麼？
我願能把你們的房子聚握在手裡，撒種似的把他們灑落在叢林中與綠野上。
願山谷成為你們的街市，綠徑成為你們的里巷，使你們在葡萄園中相尋相訪的時候，衣袂上帶著大地的芬芳。
但這個還一時做不到。
在你們祖宗的憂懼裡，他們把你們聚集得太近了。這憂懼還要稍微延長。你們的城牆，也仍要把你們的家庭和你們的田地分開的。
告訴我罷，阿法利斯的民眾呵，你們的房子裡有什麼？你們鎖門是為守護什麼呢？
你們有和平，不就是那表現好魄力的寧靜和鼓勵麼？
你們有回憶，不就是那連跨你心峰的燦爛的弓橋麼？
你們有美，不就是那把你的心從木石建築上引到聖山的麼？
告訴我，你們的房屋裡有這些東西麼？
或者你只有舒適和舒適的慾念，那詭秘的東西，以客人的身份混了進來漸作家人，終作主翁的麼？
噫，他變成一個馴獸的人，用鉤鐮和鞭笞，使你較偉大的願望變成傀儡。
他的手雖柔軟如絲，他的心卻是鐵打的。
他催眠你，只須站在你的床側，譏笑你肉體的尊嚴。
他戲弄你健全的感官，把它們塞放在薊絨裡，如同脆薄的杯盤。
真的，舒適之欲，殺害了你靈性的熱情，又哂笑地在你的殯儀隊中徐步。
但是你們這些太空的兒女，你們在靜中不息，你們不應當被網羅，被馴養。
你們的房子不應當作個錨，卻應當作個桅。
它不應當作一片遮掩傷痕的閃亮的薄皮，卻應當作那保護眼睛的睫毛。
你不應當為穿門走戶而斂翅，也不應當為恐觸到屋頂而低頭，也不應當為怕牆壁崩裂而停止呼吸。
你不應當住在那死人替活人築造的墳墓裡。
無論你的房屋是如何的壯麗與輝煌，也不應當使他隱住你的秘密，遮住你的願望。
因為你裡面的無窮性，是住在天宮裡，那天宮是以曉煙為門戶，以夜的靜寂與歌曲為窗牖的。
09
On Houses
Then a mason came forth and said, "Speak to us of Houses."
And he answered and said:
Build of your imaginings a bower in the wilderness ere you build a house within the city walls.
For even as you have home-comings in your twilight, so has the wanderer in you, the ever distant and alone.
Your house is your larger body.
It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night; and it is not dreamless. Does not your house dream? And dreaming, leave the city for grove or hilltop?
Would that I could gather your houses into my hand, and like a sower scatter them in forest and meadow.
Would the valleys were your streets, and the green paths your alleys, that you might seek one another through vineyards, and come with the fragrance of the earth in your garments.
But these things are not yet to be.
In their fear your forefathers gathered you too near together. And that fear shall endure a little longer. A little longer shall your city walls separate your hearths from your fields.
And tell me, people of Orphalese, what have you in these houses? And what is it you guard with fastened doors?
Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?
Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind?
Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?
Tell me, have you these in your houses?
Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and becomes a host, and then a master?
Ay, and it becomes a tamer, and with hook and scourge makes puppets of your larger desires.
Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron.
It lulls you to sleep only to stand by your bed and jeer at the dignity of the flesh.
It makes mock of your sound senses, and lays them in thistledown like fragile vessels.
Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral.
But you, children of space, you restless in rest, you shall not be trapped nor tamed.
Your house shall be not an anchor but a mast.
It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound, but an eyelid that guards the eye.
You shall not fold your wings that you may pass through doors, nor bend your heads that they strike not against a ceiling, nor fear to breathe lest walls should crack and fall down.
You shall not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the living.
And though of magnificence and splendour, your house shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longing.
For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night.
■ 一個人的意義不在於他的成就，而在於他所企求成就的東西。
■ 別有寄托的友誼，不是真正的友誼，而是撒入生活海洋裡的網，到頭來空收無益。
■ 理性與熱情是航行的靈魂的舵和帆，假如你的帆或舵破壞了，只能泛蕩。漂流或在海中停住。
■ 雖然言語的波浪永遠在我們上面喧嘩，而我們的深處卻永遠是沉默的。