167
We call ourselves a utilitarian age, and we do not know the uses of any single thing. We have forgotten that Water can cleanse, and Fire purify[167a], and that the Earth is mother to us all. As a consequence our Art is of the Moon and plays with shadows, while Greek art is of the Sun and deals directly with things[167b]. I feel sure that in elemental forces there is purification, and I want to go back to them and live in their presence[167c]. Of course, to one so modern as I am, enfant de mon siecle, merely to look at the world will be always lovely. I tremble with pleasure when I think that on the very day of my leaving prison both the laburnum and the lilac will be blooming in the gardens[167d], and that I shall see the wind stir into restless beauty the swaying gold of the one, and make the other toss the pale purple of its plumes so that all the air shall be Arabia for me[167e]. Linnaeus[167.1] fell on his knees and wept for joy when he saw for the first time the long heath of some English upland made yellow with the tawny aromatic blossoms of the common furze, and I know that for me, to whom flowers are part of desire, there are tears waiting in the petals of some rose[167f]. It has always been so with me from my boyhood. There is not a single colour hidden away in the chalice of a flower, or the curve of a shell, to which, by some subtle sympathy with the very soul of things, my nature does not answer[167g]. Like Gautier I have always been one of those pour qui le monde visible existe.[167.2]
我们称我们的时代为注重实用的时代，可没有一样东西的用途弄得明白。 我们已经忘了，水可以洗濯洁净，火可以精炼提纯[167a]，大地是每个人的母亲。其结果是，我们的艺术关注的是月亮，玩的是影子，而古希腊的艺术关注的是太阳，处理的是实体[167b]。我确实感到自然力中蕴含着净化，我想回返它们当中，在苍茫天地间生活[167c]。当然，像我这般现代的人，如此一个“时代的产儿”，只要看看世界就总觉得可爱。想到出狱的当天，花园中将是金链花和丁香花争相怒放的时候，我便高兴得发抖[167d]。我将看到，风过处，一边流金溢彩风姿摇荡，另一边则舞动簇簇淡紫，为我在空中撒满清香[167e]。植物学家林耐双膝跪地，喜极而泣，是因为他第一次看到石南丛生的英格兰高地，当这不起眼的植物开满飘香的黄花时，变成了金灿灿的一片。对于我，花就是向往的一部分，我知道，有眼泪正等在哪朵玫瑰的花瓣间呢[167f] 。从我孩提时代就总是这样的。在花冠中、在贝壳的曲线上藏着的每一点色泽，我的心性因为对万物灵魂的某种微妙同情，都会与之呼应[167g]。就像戈蒂耶，我向来都是那么一个“眼目所见之世界为其存在”的人。
167