Victor Segalen
A town at the end of the road & a road extending
a town: do not choose one or the other, but
one & the other by turns.
A mountain encircling your gaze confines &
contains it, as a round plain frees it. Love to
leap rocks & steps; but caress the flagstones
where the foot lands squarely.
Retreat from sound in silence, &, from silence,
deign to return to sound. Alone, if you can,
if you know how to be alone, pour yourself
sometimes into the crowd.
Beware of choosing a refuge. Do not believe in
the virtue of a virtue that lasts: break it
with some strong spice that burns & bites
& gives a taste even to blandness.
Thus, without stopping or stumbling, without
halter & without stable, without rewards
or punishments, you will attain, friend, not
the marsh of immortal joys,
But the intoxicating eddies of the great river
Diversity.
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