逐行翻译：先知 作者：纪伯伦（中英对照版）《先知》作者：纪伯伦（中英对照版） The Coming of the Ship船的到来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.当代的曙光，被选而被爱戴的亚墨斯达法（Ａｌｍｕｓｔａｆａ），在阿法利斯（Ｏｒｐｈａｌｅｓｅ）城中等候了十二年，等他的船到来，好载他归回他生长的岛上去And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld the ship coming with the mist. 在第十二年绮露（Ｊｅｌｏｏｌ）收获之月的第七天，他出城登上山顶，向海凝望；他看见了他的船在烟雾中驶来。
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.他的心门砉然地开了，他的喜乐在海面飞翔他合上眼，在灵魂的严静中祷告But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart:但当他上山的时候，忽然一阵悲哀袭来他心里想：How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.我怎能这般宁静地走去而没有些悲哀？不，我要精神上不受创伤地离此城郭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?在这城围里，我度过了悠久的痛苦的日月和孤寂的深夜；谁能撇下这痛苦与孤寂没有一些悼惜？Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered 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.在这街市上我曾撒下过多的零碎的精神，在这山中也有过多的赤裸着行走的我所爱怜的孩子，离开他们，我不能不觉得负担与痛心It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.这不是今日我脱弃了一件衣裳，乃是我用自己的手撕下了自己的一块皮肤Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.也不是我遗弃了一种思想，乃是遗弃了一个用饥和渴作成的甜蜜的心Yet I cannot tarry longer.然而我不能再迟留了The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.那召唤万物来归的大海，也在召唤我，我必须登舟了。
For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.因为，若是停留下来，我的归思，在夜间虽仍灼热奋发，渐渐地却要冰冷变石了Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?我若能把这里的一切都带了去，何等的快乐呵，但是我又怎能呢？A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that give it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.声音不能把付给他翅翼的舌头和嘴唇带走他自己必须寻求“以太”And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.鹰鸟也必须撇下窝巢，独自地飞过太阳Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbor, and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.现在他走到山脚，又转面向海，他看见他的船徐徐地驶入湾口，那些在船头的舟子，正是他的故乡人。
And his soul cried out to them, and he said:于是他的精魂向着他们呼唤，说Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides,弄潮者，我的老母的孩儿，How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.有多少次你们在我的梦中浮泛现在你们在我的更深的梦中，也就是我苏醒的时候驶来了Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind. 我已准备好要去了，我的热望和帆篷一同扯满，等着风来Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,我只要在这静止的空气中再呼吸一口气，我只要再向后抛掷热爱的一瞥，Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.那时我要站在你们中间，一个航海者群中的航海者。
And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,还有你，这无边的大海，无眠的慈母，Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,只有你是江河和溪水的宁静与自由Only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade,这溪流还有一次转折，一次林中的潺缓，And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.然后我要到你这里来，无量的涓滴归向这无量的海洋And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the city gates.当他行走的时候，他看见从远处有许多男女离开田园，急速地赶到城边来And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from the field to field telling one another of the coming of the ship.他听见他们叫着他的名字，在阡陌中彼此呼唤，报告他的船来临。
And he said to himself:他对自己说：Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?别离的日子能成为聚会的日子么？And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?我的薄暮实在可算是我的黎明么？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?那些放下了耕田的犁耙，停止了榨酒的轮子的人们，我将给他们什么呢Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?我的心能成为一棵累累结实的树，可以采撷了分给他们么？And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups?我的愿望能奔流如泉水，可以倾满他们的杯么？Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?我是一个全能者的手可能弹奏的琴，或是一管全能者可以吹弄的笛么？A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?我是一个寂静的寻求者。
在寂静中，我发现了什么宝藏，可以放心地布施呢？If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unremembered seasons?倘若这是我收获的日子，那么，在何时何地我曾撒下了种子呢？If this indeed be the hour in which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.倘若这确是我举起明灯的时候，那么，灯内的火焰，不是我点上的Empty and dark shall I raise 。