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When I Was The Forest / Meister Eckhart
當我還是樹林 / 艾克哈特大師
When I was the stream, when I was the forest,
when I was still the field,
when I was every hoof, foot, fin and wing,
when I was the sky itself,
當我還是河川，當我還是樹林，
當我還是田野，
當我還是每一個蹄、腳、鰭、翼，
當我還是天空，
no one ever asked me did I have a purpose,
no one ever wondered
was there anything I might need,
for there was nothing I could not love.
沒人問我，我的存在是否有目的，
沒人揣度
我是否需要任何東西，
只因當時
無一物非我所愛。
It was when I left all we once were that
the agony began, the fear and questions came,
and I wept, I wept. And tears
I had never known before.
那是在我遠離我們本然所是之後，
苦痛才開始的。恐懼和疑問前來，
而我哭泣，我哭泣。我流下了
不曾知曉的淚水。
So I returned to the river, I returned to
the mountains. I asked for their hand
in marriage again, I begged- I begged to wed
every object and creature,
於是，我回到河川，我回到山林。
我央求他們把手交給我，
再度與我完婚，我乞求 —
我乞求與一切萬有冥合。
and when they accepted,
God was ever present in my arms.
And He did not say,
”Where have you been?”
萬有接納我之際，
上主恆常臨在，於我懷中。
祂並沒有問：
「你去哪裡了？」
For then I knew my soul - every soul -
has always held Him.
正是那時，我瞭然於心：
我的靈魂 — 所有靈魂 —
始終將祂擁於懷中。
(Benedictus 譯）
PS. 艾克哈特大師：中世紀德國神學家、哲學家和基督教神秘主義者
