于是一个诗人说，请给我们谈美。
他回答说：
你们到处追求美，除了她自己做了你的道路，引导着你之外，你如何能找到她呢？
除了她做了你的言语的编造者之外，你如何能谈论她呢？
冤抑的、受伤的人说：“美是仁爱的，和柔的，
“如同一位年轻的母亲，在她自己的光荣中半含着羞涩，在我们中间行走。”
热情的人说：“不，美是一种全能的可畏的东西。
“暴风似的，撼摇了上天下地。”
疲乏的，忧苦的人说：“美是温柔的微语，在我们心灵中说话。
“她的声音传达到我们的寂静中，如同微晕的光，在阴影的恐惧中颤动。”
烦躁的人却说：“我们听见她在万山中叫号，
“与她的呼声俱来的，有兽蹄之声，振翼之音，与狮子之吼。”
在夜里守城的人说：“美要与晓暾从东方一同升起。”
在日中的时候，工人和旅客说：“我们曾看见她凭倚在落日的窗户上俯视大地。”
在冬日，阻雪的人说：“她要和春天一同来临，跳跃于山峰之上。”
在夏日的炎热里，刈者说：“我们曾看见她和秋叶一同跳舞，我们也看见她的发中有一堆白雪。”
这些都是他们关于美的谈说。
实际上，你却不是谈她，只是谈着你那未曾满足的需要。
美不是一种需要，只是一种欢乐。
她不是干渴的口，也不是伸出的空虚的手，却是发焰的心，陶醉的灵魂。
她不是那你能看到的形象，能听到的歌声，却是你虽闭目时也能看见的形象，虽掩耳时也能听见的歌声。
她不是犁痕下树皮中的液汁，也不是在兽爪间垂死的禽鸟。
却是一座永远开花的花园，一群永远飞翔的天使。
阿法利斯的民众呵，在生命揭露圣洁的面容的时候的美，就是生命。但你就是生命，你也是面纱。
美是永生揽镜自照。
但你就是永生，你也是镜子。
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.