一

城门衰败。

贵胄的家僮去打水，

在水池边看见了池底，

抱着空器皿回来——

蒙羞，抱头。

雨从天上路过很多次，

一次也没有下来。

母鹿生下小鹿，就撇弃。

驴站在净光的高处喘气，像狗，

眼睛一块一块熄灭。

没有草的地方，

最后枯死的是光。

二

雅各枕着一块石头睡觉，

梦里，梯子立在地上，头顶着天。

他醒来，说：耶和华真在这里！

我竟不知道。

他把石头立起来，浇上油。

这地方何等可畏——

有人整夜枕着天的门，

睡得很沉。

三

夜里，天使对牧羊人说：不要惧怕。

我报给你们大喜的信息，关乎万民。

一个婴孩，包着布，卧在槽里。

这就是记号。

驴吃草的地方，救主躺下了。

造草的，躺在草槽里，

像一根草。

我们低下头去，

不再只是因为饥饿。

四

阴间没有火。

阴间是一张越张越大的嘴。

迦勒底人扩充心欲，如死不能知足，

吞下万国，又吞下万民，

仍旧是空的。

他们在巴比伦教人文字言语，

叫人通达学问，足能侍立王宫。

网撒下来了——

人缠在字句里，死在迦勒底，

始终看不见那地。

五

我儿，恶人若引诱你，你不可随从。

他们蹲在暗处说：

我们埋伏流人的血，

蹲伏害无罪的人——

我们好像阴间，

把他们活活吞下；

他们如同下坑的人，

囫囵吞了。

嘴越张越大，

最后，它吞掉了自己的脸。

六

你们要进窄门。

宽门大得不用找，

路大得可以并排走许多人，

和他们的行李。

窄门窄到——

你得先把怀里的东西一件件放下，

最后放下自己，

才过得去。

进窄门的人，

是把自己留在门外的人。

七

世上有两张嘴。

一张吃草，一张吃人。

吃草的，越吃越有生命。

吃人的，越吃越空。

八

家主起来，关了门。

门外的人叩门：主啊，给我们开门！

我们在你面前吃过、喝过，

你也在我们的街上教训过人。

门里说：我不晓得你们是哪里来的。

你们这一切作恶的人，离开我去吧。

门里有声音传出来——

筵席正在进行。

他们在门外，第一次听清。

九

西门彼得说：你是基督，

是永生上帝的儿子。

耶稣说：西门巴约拿，你是有福的。

血肉说不出这句话，

是天上的父说的。

钥匙放进渔夫的手心。

石头不会说话；

天父一开口，石头就成了磐石。

阴间的门，不能胜过他。

十

此后，我看见天上有门开了。

吹号的声音说：你上到这里来。

从东、从西、从南、从北，

有人正走在路上，

赴一场宴席。

亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各和众先知，

已经在里面。

窄门里的规矩是：

在后的，将要在前；

有在前的，将要在后。

十一

这道离你不远——

在你口里，在你心里。

全地的干旱，等着一场雨；

草，等着雨；

空器皿在池边，也等着。

雨落下来之前，

草已经等了很久。

The Narrow Gate

I

The city gates are in ruins. A nobleman's servants

go down for water,

see the bottom of the pool,

and come back with empty jars—

shamed, holding their heads.

Rain has passed overhead many times

and never once come down.

A doe drops her fawn and abandons it.

A donkey stands on a barren height, panting like a dog,

its eyes going out one by one.

Where there is no grass,

light is the last thing to die.

II

Jacob sleeps with a stone for a pillow;

in his dream a ladder stands on the earth, its top in heaven.

He wakes: The LORD is here!

And I did not know it.

He sets up the stone and pours oil on it.

How dreadful is this place—

a man slept all night with heaven's gate under his head,

and slept sound.

III

At night the angel says to the shepherds: Fear not.

I bring you tidings of great joy, for all people.

A baby, wrapped in cloth, lying in a manger.

That is the sign.

Where the donkey eats grass, the Savior lies down.

The God who made the grass lies in a feed trough,

like a blade of grass.

We bow our heads,

no longer only from hunger.

IV

Sheol has no fire.

Sheol is a mouth that opens wider and wider.

The Chaldeans swell their appetite like death, never satisfied—

swallowing nations, swallowing peoples,

and staying empty.

In Babylon they teach letters and language,

breeding wisdom fit to stand in a king's court.

The net comes down—

men tangle in the letter of the word, die in Chaldea,

never once seeing the land.

V

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

They crouch in the dark, faces sinking first,

and the mouth speaks:

We lie in wait for blood,

we lurk for the innocent—

we are like Sheol,

swallowing them alive;

like those who go down to the pit,

swallowed whole.

The mouth opens wider and wider

until, at last, it swallows its own face.

VI

Strive to enter by the narrow gate.

The wide gate need not be sought,

the road is broad enough for many abreast,

and all their baggage.

The narrow gate is so narrow—

you must put down what you carry, one piece at a time,

and put down yourself last,

before you can pass.

Who enters the narrow gate

is one who leaves himself outside.

VII

There are two mouths in the world.

One eats grass. One eats men.

The grass-eater: the more he eats, the more life.

The man-eater: the more he eats, the emptier he grows.

VIII

The master of the house rises and shuts the door.

Those outside knock: Lord, open to us!

We ate with you and drank with you,

and you taught in our streets.

From inside: I do not know where you come from.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil.

A sound comes from inside—

the feast is going on.

IX

Simon Peter says: You are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

Jesus says: Simon Bar-Jonah, you are blessed.

Flesh and blood could not have spoken this.

The Father in heaven spoke.

The key is put into the fisherman's palm.

A stone cannot speak;

when the Father speaks, the stone becomes a rock.

The gates of Sheol shall not prevail against it.

X

After this, I saw a door open in heaven.

A trumpet voice said: Come up here.

From east and west, from south and north,

people are on the road,

on their way to a feast.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets

are already inside.

The law of the narrow gate:

the last shall be first;

some who are first shall be last.

XI

The word is near you—

in your mouth, in your heart.

All the drought-stricken earth waits for rain;

the grass waits for rain;

the empty jar stands by the pool.

Before the rain comes,

the grass has waited through seventy barren years.