看破浮生過半，半之受用無邊。半中歲月盡幽閑，半里乾坤寬展。

半郭半鄉(xiāng)村舍，半山半水田園。半耕半讀半經(jīng)廛chan，半士半民姻眷。

半雅半粗器具，半華半實庭軒。衾裳半素半輕鮮，肴饌半豐半儉。

童仆半能半拙，妻兒半樸半賢。心情半佛半神仙，姓字半藏半顯。

一半還之天地，讓將一半人間，半思后代與滄田，半想閻羅怎見。

酒飲半酣正好，花開半時偏妍。帆張半扇免翻顛，馬放半韁穩(wěn)便。

半少卻饒滋味，半多反厭糾纏。百年苦樂半相參，會占便宜只半。

The Half-and-Half Song

By far the greater half have I seen through

This floating life——ah,there's a magic word——

This 'half'——so rich in implications.

It bids us taste the joy of more than we

Can ever own.Half-way in life is man's

Best state,when slackened pace allows him ease;

A wide world lies half-way\'twixt heaven and earth;

TO live in huts half-way between the town and country.

Have farms half-way between the streams and hills;

Be half-a-farmer,and half-a-scholar,and half

In business;half as gentry live,

And half related to the common folk;

And have a house that\'s half genteel,half plain,

Half elegantly furnished and half bare;

Dresses and gowns that are half plain,half light and bright.

And food half epicure\'s,half simple fare;

Have servants half clever and half dull;

A wife and children half simple and half smart——

So then,at heart,I feel I\'m half a Buddha,

And almost half a Taoist fairy blest,

And have a name half-known and half obscure.

One half myself to Father Heaven I

Return;the other half to children leave——

Half thinking how for my posterity

To plan and provide,and yet half minding how

To answer the God of Hell when my body\'s laid at rest.

He is most wisely drunk who is half drunk;

And flowers in half-bloom look their prettiest;

As boats at half-sail sail the steadiest,

And horses held at half-slack reins trot best.

Who half too much has,adds anxiety;

But half too little,adds possession\'s zest.

Since life\'s a compound of half sweet and half bitter,

Who tastes but half is wisest and cleverest.

這首半字歌曾被林語堂先生在其妙文《中庸的哲學(xué)：子思》（見其散文集《人生的盛宴》）一文中引用

作者

李密庵