於是他答道：
工作可以使你跟上世界的腳步，緊隨世界的靈魂。
因為游手好閒會使你成為歲月的陌生人，使你脫離正莊嚴及光榮服從邁向永恆的生命隊伍。
在工作時，你彷如一支長笛，時間的呢喃透過它轉變成音樂。
當天地萬物和諧地奏出樂聲，你們誰願意當一隻黯啞、沉默的蘆葦呢？
總有人告訴你，工作是詛咒，勞動更是不幸。
但是我告訴你，當你工作時，就實現了一部分大地最深遠的夢，而這個夢在誕生時就已指派給你。
況且，勞動不息的你才是真正熱愛生命，
透過勞動來愛生命，也就是親近生命最深層的秘密。
然而，若你在痛苦中宣稱誕生是一種磨難，肉體的維生是寫在你眉宇間的詛咒，那麼我說，唯有你眉間滴下的汗水，才能拭去上頭的載記。
也有人告訴你，生命乃是一片黑暗，而你在疲乏時，也就隨聲附和那些疲乏的人。
然而我說，生命旳卻是黑暗，除非有盼望，
所有盼望都是盲目，除非有知識，
所有知識都是枉然，除非有工作，
所有工作都是虛空，除非愛在其中；
你若懷著愛來工作，就會讓自己和他人以及神緊緊結合在一起。
什麼是懷著愛來工作呢？
就是以你心中抽出的絲線來織布，彷彿這屋宇是你摯愛的人要住的。
就是溫柔地撒種，喜悅地收割，彷彿收得的果實是你摯愛的人要享用的。
就是用你的精神在所有事情上注入你的風格，
並且知道，所有蒙祝福的故人都站在你的四周觀望著。
我常聽你們夢囈似地說著：「那雕刻大理石，而且在其中展現自己靈魂的人，比在田裡耕種的人高貴。
那抓住彩虹，用它在布帛上畫出人形的人，比為我們製作涼鞋的人了不起。」
但是，在這正午時分，不是在睡夢中，我神智清醒地告訴你們，風對巨大橡樹說的話，不會比對微小葉片說的話甜蜜；惟有能用愛將風的話變成甜蜜歌聲的人，才堪稱高貴偉大。
工作是愛的具體表現，
若你無法懷著愛來工作，反而心生厭惡，那麼你最好辭掉工作，坐在寺廟的大門口，接受樂在工作的人給你的施捨。
因為，你若是冷漠地烘烤麵包，就會烤出只能讓人半飽的苦麵包。
若你怨懟地釀榨葡萄酒，你把酒釀成毒藥。
若你雖有天使般的歌聲，卻不愛歌唱，你就是摀住了人耳，使他聽不見白天和黑夜的聲音。
1923 先知/卡里 紀伯倫 著
1995 曾惠昭 譯
Work
Then a plowman said, "Speak to us of Work."
And he answered, saying:
You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.
When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
Always you have been told that work is a curse and a labor, a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labor you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secret.
But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.
You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet."
But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.
Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5484/Gibran.htm
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