於是有個每年進城一次的隱士，走上前來說：給我們談逸樂。
他回答說：逸樂是一闋自由的歌，
卻不是自由。
是你的願望開出的花朵，
卻不是結下的果實。
是從深處到高處的招呼，
卻不是深，也不是高。
是關閉在籠中的翅翼，
卻不是被圍繞住的太空。
噫，實話說，逸樂只是一闋自由的歌。
我願意你們全心全意地歌唱，我卻不願你們在歌唱中迷戀。
你們中間有些年輕的人，尋求逸樂，似乎這便是世上的一切。他們已被裁判、被譴責了。
我不要裁判、譴責他們，我要他們去尋求。
因為他們必會找到逸樂，但不止找到她一個人；
她有七個姊妹，最小的比逸樂還嬌媚。
你們沒聽見過有人因為要挖掘樹根卻發現了寶藏麼？
你們中間有些老人，想起逸樂時總帶些懊悔，如同想起醉中所犯的過失。
然而，懊悔只是心靈的蒙蔽，而不是心靈的懲罰。
你們想起逸樂時應當帶著感謝，如同秋收對於夏季的感謝。但是假如懊悔能予他們以安慰，就讓他們得到安慰吧。
你們中間有的不是尋求的青年人，也不是追憶的老年人；
在他們的畏懼尋求與追憶之中，他們遠離一切的逸樂，他們深恐疏遠了或觸犯了心靈。
然而，他們的放棄就是逸樂了。
這樣，他們雖用震顫的手挖掘樹根，他們也找到寶藏了。
告訴我，誰能觸犯心靈呢？
夜鶯能觸犯靜默麼，螢火能觸犯星辰麼？
你們的火焰和煙氣能使風感到負載麼？
■ 希望是半個生命，淡漠是半個死亡。
■ 生命的氣息在陽關中，生命把握在風中。
你們認為心靈是一池止水，你能用竿子去攪撥它麼？
常常在你拒絕逸樂的時候，你只是把慾望收藏在你心身的隱處。
誰知道在今日似乎避免了的事情，到明日不會再浮現呢？
連你的身體都知道他的遺傳和正當的需要而不肯被欺騙。你的身體是你靈魂的琴，
無論他發出甜柔的音樂或嘈雜的聲響，那都是你的。
現在你們在心中自問：「我們如何辨別逸樂中的善與不善呢？」
到你的田野和花園裡去，你就知道在花中採蜜是蜜蜂的娛樂；但是，將蜜汁送給蜜蜂也是花的娛樂。
因為對於蜜蜂，花是它生命的泉源；
對於花，蜜蜂是它戀愛的使者；
對於蜂和花，兩下裡，娛樂的授受是一種需要與歡樂。
阿法利斯的民眾呵，在娛樂中你們應當像花朵與蜜蜂。
24
On Pleasure
Then a hermit, who visited the city once a year, came forth and said, "Speak to us of Pleasure."
And he answered, saying:
Pleasure is a freedom song,
But it is not freedom.
It is the blossoming of your desires,
But it is not their fruit.
It is a depth calling unto a height,
But it is not the deep nor the high.
It is the caged taking wing,
But it is not space encompassed.
Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song.
And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.
Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.
I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.
For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone:
Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.
Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?
And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.
But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.
They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.
Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.
And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;
And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.
But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.
And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.
But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?
Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?
And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?
Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?
Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.
Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?
Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.
And your body is the harp of your soul,
And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.
And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"
Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.