致一位青年詩人的信 Letters to a Young Poet(10)
Paris
theday after Christmas, 1908
you.must know, dear Mr. Kappus, how gladI was to have the lovely letter from you. The news that you give me, real andexpressible as it now is again, seems to me good news, and the longer I thoughtit over, the more I felt that it was very good news indeed. That is really whatI wanted to write you for Christmas Eve; but I have been variously anduninterruptedly living in my work this winter, and the ancient holiday arrivedso quickly that I hardly had enough time to do the most necessary errands, muchless to write.
But I have thought of you often duringthis holiday and imagined how silent you must be in your solitary fort amongthe empty hills, upon which those large southern winds fling themselves as ifthey wanted to devour them in large pieces.
It must be immense, this silence, inwhich sounds and movements have room, and if one thinks that along with allthis the presence of the distant sea also resounds, perhaps as the innermostnote in this prehistoric harmony, then one can only wish that you aretrustingly and patiently letting the magnificent solitude work upon you, thissolitude which can no longer be erased from your life; which, in everythingthat is in store for you to experience and to do, will act an anonymousinfluence, continuously and gently decisive, rather as the blood of ourancestors incessantly moves in us and combines with our own to form the unique,unrepeatable being that we are at every turning of our life.
Yes: I am glad you have that firm,sayable existence with you, that title, that uniform, that service, all thattangible and limited world, which in such surroundings, with such an isolatedand not numerous body of men, takes on seriousness and necessity, and implies avigilant application, above and beyond the frivolity and mere time passing ofthe military profession, and not only permits a self-reliant attentiveness butactually cultivates it. And to be in circumstances that are working upon us,that from time to time place us in front of great natural things - that is allwe need.
Art too is just a way of living, andhowever one lives, one can, without knowing, prepare for it; in everything realone is closer to it, more its neighbor, than in the unreal half-artisticprofessions, which, while they pretend to be close to art, in practice deny andattack the existence of all art - as, for example, all of journalism does andalmost all criticism and three quarters of what is called (and wants to becalled) literature. I am glad, in a word, that you have overcome the danger oflanding in one of those professions, and are solitary and courageous, somewherein a rugged reality. May the coming year support and strengthen you in that.
Always
Yours,
R. M. Rilke
親愛的開普斯先生，您得知道，我在收到您的來信時有多高興。您給我帶來的真實、生動的消息對我來說又是個好消息。我越想越覺得是這樣。因此我急不可待地想要在聖誕前夜寫信給您，但是我整個冬天一直在繁忙地工作，這冬日的假期來得這麼快，以至於我都沒有足夠的時間做這最必要的事情了，寫作也很少。
但是我在假期裏經常想到您，想象着您怎樣在那空曠的山谷、孤寂的城堡裏寂寞地生活，而南邊的風肆虐着，似乎要把那些山巒撕成碎片。
這寂靜一定無邊無際，它把聲音和行動都吞沒了，如果在這樣的寂寞中人們能夠想到遠方的大海的回聲，或許在這有史以來的和諧裏能夠深深地體會到這寂寞的真正滋味，然後就只希望您懷着信賴的心情耐心地讓美妙的孤獨在您身上做工，這孤獨不再從您的生活中消失；它伴隨着您，無處不在；這孤獨對您施加的影響連您自己也難以察覺，它會不斷地、溫柔地起着決定性的作用，甚至象我們祖先的血液一樣不斷地在我們體內流淌，成爲我們的一部分，使我們變成這獨一無二的、無法替代的人，成爲我們自己生活的主宰。
是的，我很高興看到您變得堅定而有力了，那個稱號，那套制服，那種服務，所有有形和有限的世界，都在這樣的環境裏，似乎與世隔絕，卻又有無數人在身邊，帶着莊重和重要的感覺，時刻警醒，沒有輕浮，時光在軍事生涯中流逝着，之後一個自信的您就出現了。您發現自己真地自信起來。融於環境，體味生活，時而感到自然的力量，那正是我們需要的。
藝術也是一種生活的道路，不管一個人怎樣活着，他能在無所知的情況下爲其準備；無論是什麼事情，只要是真實地對待，就比較容易接近，遠非那些非真實的半藝術行當可比，當那些人假裝接近藝術時，他們已經否定和攻擊了所有藝術的存在--好象那些，舉例來說吧，所有的記者、幾乎所有批評家和四分之三的文學家（希望得到此稱呼的人）所做的事情。最後我想說，我很高興看到您已經遠離了從事這些職業的危險。您在艱苦的現實面前獨立了，勇敢了起來。希望來年您能更加堅強。
祝福您。
您的，
李爾克
巴黎
