於是一個詩人說，請給我們談美。
他回答說：
你們到處追求美，除了她自己做了你的道路，引導著你之外，你如何能找到她呢？
除了她做了你的言語的編造者之外，你如何能談論她呢？
冤抑的、受傷的人說：「美是仁愛的，和柔的，
「如同一位年輕的母親，在她自己的光榮中半含著羞澀，在我們中間行走。」
熱情的人說：「不，美是一種全能的可畏的東西。
「暴風似的，撼搖了上天下地。」
疲乏的，憂苦的人說：「美是溫柔的微語，在我們心靈中說話。
「她的聲音傳達到我們的寂靜中，如同微暈的光，在陰影的恐懼中顫動。」
煩躁的人卻說：「我們聽見她在萬山中叫號，
「與她的呼聲俱來的，有獸蹄之聲，振翼之音，與獅子之吼。」
在夜裡守城的人說：「美要與曉暾從東方一同升起。」
在日中的時候，工人和旅客說：「我們曾看見她憑倚在落日的窗戶上俯視大地。」
在冬日，阻雪的人說：「她要和春天一同來臨，跳躍於山峰之上。」
在夏日的炎熱裡，刈者說：「我們曾看見她和秋葉一同跳舞，我們也看見她的發中有一堆白雪。」
這些都是他們關於美的談說。
實際上，你卻不是談她，只是談著你那未曾滿足的需要。
美不是一種需要，只是一種歡樂。
她不是乾渴的口，也不是伸出的空虛的手，卻是發焰的心，陶醉的靈魂。
她不是那你能看到的形象，能聽到的歌聲，卻是你雖閉目時也能看見的形象，雖掩耳時也能聽見的歌聲。
她不是犁痕下樹皮中的液汁，也不是在獸爪間垂死的禽鳥。
卻是一座永遠開花的花園，一群永遠飛翔的天使。
阿法利斯的民眾呵，在生命揭露聖潔的面容的時候的美，就是生命。但你就是生命，你也是面紗。
美是永生攬鏡自照。
但你就是永生，你也是鏡子。
25
On Beauty
And a poet said, "Speak to us of Beauty."
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?
And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?
The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle.
Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."
And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.
Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."
The tired and the weary say, "beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit.
"Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."
But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains,
"And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."
At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."
And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, "we have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."
In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."
And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."
All these things have you said of beauty.
Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,
And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.
It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.
It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,
But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and your are the mirror.