The Coming of the Ship

Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn onto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.

And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of lelool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward;and he beheld the ship coming with the mist.

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.

But he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart:

How shall I go in peace and without sorrow?Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.

Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness;and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?

Too many fragments of the spirit have I scatterd in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.

被選中與被愛戴的阿穆斯塔法，在當代的曙光下，在奧菲里斯城等待來接他返回自己出生之島的船只，已經十二年了。在第十二個年頭“收割月”的第七日，他爬上一座沒有城墻的小山，向海上望去。他看到他的船載著霧靄而來。

他的心門一下子敞開了，喜悅蔓延到海面上。他把雙眼閉上，在靈魂的深處默默祈禱。

但當他走下山時，一陣悲傷向他襲來，他心里想：

我如何能平靜而不帶悲傷地離去？不，我無法不帶著精神上的創傷離開這座城市。

在這個城市里，我度過了多少漫長而痛苦的日子，度過了多少漫長而孤獨的夜晚；誰能不帶任何悔恨地離開他的痛苦和孤獨呢？

我曾把自己的思緒碎片撒滿這些街道，有多少我喜歡的孩子赤身行走在這小山間，我無法做到毫無負擔與傷痛地從這些記憶中抽離出去。

It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.

Yet I cannot tarry longer.

The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.

For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.

Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that give it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.

And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun. Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbour, and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.

And his soul cried out to them, and he said:

今天我脫去的不是一件外衣，而是用我的雙手撕下的一塊皮膚。

我丟在身后的不是一種思緒，而是一顆用饑渴釀造的甜蜜的心。

然而，我無法再耽擱了。

召喚萬物的大海在召喚我，我必須啟程了。

因為留下來，縱然時光在黑夜里燃燒，最終不免要冷卻、結晶成形。

我愿意把這里的一切全部帶走，但我怎么能夠？

嘴唇給了聲音飛翔的翅膀，聲音卻無法把舌頭帶走，它只能獨自在天空中飛翔。

只有離開巢穴，鷹才能獨自飛躍太陽。

現在他已來到山腳下，轉回身再次向大海望去，看見他的船已駛入港口，甲板上的水手們來自他的故鄉。

他的靈魂向他們召喚到：

Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides,

How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.

Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind.

Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,

Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.

And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,

Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,

Only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade,

And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.

And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the city gates.

我古老母親的子孫們，你們這些弄潮兒，

曾無數次在我的夢中出現。如今你們在我更深的夢中，在我蘇醒的時候來到。

我就要走了，我的渴望已揚帆啟程。

只想在這沉靜的空氣中再吸一口氣，再回首投下深情的一瞥。

我將與你們站立在一起，成為水手中的一員。

而你，廣闊的大海，無眠的母親，

你是河溪唯一的安寧與自由，

這條小溪再蜿蜒一次，在林中的空地上再嗚咽一回，

我就會走向你，猶如一滴自由的水滴，融入無際的大海。

他正在走著，看見遠處的男女們離開了土地和果園，紛紛涌向城門。

And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from the field to field telling one another of the coming of the ship.

And he said to himself:

Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?

And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?

And what shall I give unto him who has left his plough in midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the wheel of his winepress?

Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?

And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups?

Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?

A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?

If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unrembered seasons?

他聽到他們喊自己的名字，他們在田野里奔走相告船來的消息。

他心里想：

分別之日難道就是見面之時嗎？

我的黃昏是否真的就是我的黎明？

我能給那些放下耕犁、停下釀酒轉輪的人們什么呢？

是否我的心像一棵掛滿果實的樹，我可以把果實收獲然后奉獻給人們？

是否我的渴望像一灣清泉，我可以用泉水把他們的酒杯斟滿？

是否我是一只豎琴，被萬能的手撥弄，是否我是一只長笛，使他的氣息可以穿過我的身體？

我是個尋求寂寞的人，我在寂寞中究竟得到了些什么，使我可以慷慨地施予？

如果這是我豐收的日子，那么我究竟是在哪個被遺忘的季節里，在哪塊土地上撒下種子呢？

If this indeed be the our in which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.

Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern,

And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil and he shall light it also.

These things he said in words. But much in his heart remained unsaid.For he himself could not speak his deeper secret.

And when he entered into the city all the people came to meet him, and they were crying out to him as with one voice.

And the elders of the city stood forth and said:

Go not yet away from us.

A noontide have you been in our twilight, and your youth has given us dreams to dream.

No stranger are you among us, nor a guest, but our son and our dearly beloved.

Suffer not yet our eyes to hunger for your face.

And the priests and the priestesses said unto him:

如果這個時候，我應該打起燈籠，那么燈中燃燒的并不是我的火焰。

我將在空虛和黑暗中舉起我的燈籠，

守夜人將會給它注滿燈油，把它點燃。

他心里想著這些事。但還有許多未想的事留在心間。因為他不能表達自己內心深處的秘密。

當他走進城中，所有的人都過來和他見面，他們異口同聲地喊著他的名字。

城中的老者走過來對他說：

請不要離開我們。

你一直是我們黃昏中的正午，你的青春讓我們成為有夢想的人。

在我們中間，你并不是陌生人，也不是客人，而是我們的兒子，我們親愛的人。

不要讓我們的眼睛因渴望見到你的容顏而酸痛。

男祭司和女祭司紛紛對他說：

Let not the waves of the sea separate us now, and the years you have spent in our midst become a memory.

You have walked among us a spirit, and your shadow has been a light upon our faces.

Much have we loved you. But speechless was our love, and with veils has it been veiled.

Yet now it cries aloud unto you, and would stand revealed before you.

And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

And others came also and entreated him.

But he answered them not. He only bent his head;and those who stood near saw his tears falling upon his breast.

And he and the people proceeded towards the great square before the temple.

And there came out of the sanctuary a woman whose name was Almitra. And she was a seeress.

And he looked upon her with exceeding tenderness, for it was she who had first sought and believed in him when he had been but a day in their city.

現在，不要讓大海的波濤把我們分開，不要讓你和我們一起度過的歲月成為回憶。

你的精神曾與我們同行，你的身影曾是照在我們臉上的光。

我們如此愛著你。但我們的愛是無言的，被面紗遮蓋。

但現在，他向你大聲呼喚，將會坦然地站在你的面前。

只有在分別的時刻，愛才會知道自己曾愛得如此深沉。

其他人也走過來挽留他。

但是他不回答，只是低下自己的頭；站在他周圍的人，看到他的眼淚落在胸膛。

他和人們一起涌向圣殿前的廣場。

這時，一個名叫艾爾梅特拉的女預言家從圣殿里走出來。

他深情地望著她，因為在他進城的第一天，這位女子就來尋找他，并成為他的第一位信徒。

And she hailed him, saying:

Prophet of God, in quest for the uttermost, long have you searched the distances for your ship.

And now your ship has come, and you must needs go.

Deep is your longing for the land of your memories and the dwelling place of your greater desires;and our love would not bind you nor our needs hold you.

Yet this we ask ere you leave us, that you speak to us and give us of your truth.

And we will give it unto our children, and they unto their children, and it shall not perish.

In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep.

Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death.

And he answered,

People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now moving your souls?

她向他致賀，說道：

上帝的先知，至高真理的探尋者，你長久以來一直在企盼你的船。

如今，你的船來了，你必須得走了。

你是如此深切地渴望你記憶中的土地和企盼的住所；我們的愛不會束縛你，我們的懇求也不能留住你。

不過，在你走之前，我們懇求你把真理告訴我們。

我們將把它傳給我們的子孫，他們再傳給他們的孩子，世世代代，永不滅亡。

在你的孤獨中，你注視過我們的生活，在你清醒時，你曾傾聽我們夢中的歡笑與哭泣。

現在讓我們敞開自己，告訴我們你所知道的生與死之間的一切。

他回答道：

奧菲里斯城的人們啊，除了此刻在你們的靈魂中涌動的東西外，我還能說些什么呢？