埃及的一扇門

　　《埃及的一扇門 A Door in Epynt 》是收藏於《島嶼或大陸 ISLANDS OR CONTINENTS》盒裝叢書裡，此叢書由十八本袖珍版詩選組成，分別收錄來自十八位國際著名詩人的精選作品。

作者簡介    

曼娜． 埃爾芬

　　是屢獲殊榮的詩人和劇作家， 出版逾12 本詩集， 當中的《手中鳥》( 1990) 榮獲威爾斯藝術局榮譽獎「年度最佳詩集」。埃爾芬的其中 4 卷詩集由 Bloodaxe Book 推出雙語版本， 包括《細胞天使》( 1996)、《瞎子的親吻》( 2001)、《完美缺陷》( 2007) 及2012 年秋季為詩集協會推薦翻譯獎獲選的最新詩集《細語》。她亦為威爾斯和美國多位作曲家填詞，並為紐約愛樂樂團1999 年之合唱交響曲《光之林》及近期威爾斯國立歌劇院清唱劇《血肉之字》的填詞人之一。另外， 埃爾芬創作了大量舞台劇、廣播劇和電視劇，並自1995 年起於英國威爾斯大報《西部郵報》定期撰寫專欄。她在2002– 2003 年度成為威爾斯兒童桂冠詩人，2009 年於撒丁島獲得外國詩歌獎，並獲提名為伊夫林． 蘭斯洛特獎的歐洲女詩人， 亦獲授予威爾斯文學名譽院士和阿伯里斯特威斯大學皇家文學研究員。2009 年，她獲得威爾斯藝術委員會頒發的獎項， 寫成《睡眠》一書。埃爾芬是威爾斯語詩人中最為人熟悉且翻譯作品最多的詩人， 其作品已翻譯成18 種語言。她現為威爾斯大學三一聖大衛學院創意寫作碩士課程主任。

　　（張志豪譯）

　　Menna Elfyn is an award-winning poet and playwright. She has published over twelve volumes of poetry including Aderyn Bach Mewn Llaw (Bird in Hand, 1990), winner of Welsh Arts Council Prize for best volume of the year. Four volumes have appeared bilingually by Bloodaxe Books: Cell Angel (1996), Blind Man’s Kiss (2001), Perfect Blemish (2007), and her latest Murmur, which was chosen as Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation for autumn 2012. Her other works include libretti for various composers in Wales and America. She is co-librettist for Garden of Light, a choral symphony for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999 and more recently an oratorio for the Welsh National Opera Gair ar Gnawd (Word on Flesh). She has also written numerous stage, radio and television plays and has a regular column in the national newspaper of Wales, The Western Mail, since 1995. She was made Poet Laureate for the Children of Wales in 2002–2003. She received the Foreign Poetry Prize in Sardinia in 2009 and was also nominated for the Evelyn Encelot Prize for European women poets. Her other awards include Honorary Fellow of Welsh Literature and Royal Literary Fellow at the Aberystwyth University. In 2009, she received an award from the Welsh Arts Council to write on “Sleep.” She is the most traveled and translated of all Welsh language poets and her work has been translated into eighteen languages. She is Director of the Masters programme in creative writing at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.
 

鹽

他們稱之「白色的金子」
這些人篤信地球是平的

她來自於另外一族
那裡巫師佈道，巫語滿天飛

萬物皆有道
鹽是如此珍資

「所有敬天的祭祀之物
都應
灑上鹽粒」
太多或者太少

都可能虐殺，連如何撒鹽
都可能刺痛
那些粒粒皆辛苦的鹽工
***
我送給他撒鹽器的那天
(透明的有機玻璃的磨鹽器
她或許已經把它託付
於海底

就像那個黑暗的民間傳說
為什麼海是鹹的)
她輕巧地搖動鹽瓶

無聲無息
用她的魔術師的手
***
這件禮物最終歸還給我
像一隻沙漏

在潔白的臺布上
露出的鹽粒都無影無蹤

有時她的聲音言猶在耳
屏聲輕氣，她在耳語，「請把鹽瓶遞給我」

(謝凌嵐譯)

譯註：
1.第7-9行：來自於《聖經‧利未記》第2章13節。
2.第19行：據挪威民間傳說，海底有隻巨大的磨鹽器，海鹽從其所出。

Salt

“White gold”they called it,
the flat-earthers.

And she who was of an earth
where sermons poured

and kept things in their place
knew how precious it was

how “whatsoever sacrifice
thou offerest, thou shalt
season it with salt,”
how too much or too little

can kill, how to spill it
stings the wounds
of those who mined it.
        ***
The day I gave her the grinder
(the see-through salt-mill
she would have consigned
to the sea bed

in that dark tale
Why the Sea is Salt)
she worked on, lightly

proving invisibility
with magician’s hands.
        ***
The gift has come home to me—
seized hour-glass

on a white table cloth
where the spilt grains hide.

And sometimes I still hear her voice
in a hush, asking “Pass the salt please”

(Translated by Paul Henry)

Translators Notes:
1. Lines 7-9: Leviticus 2:13.
2. Line 19: Norwegian folk tale where a mill on an ocean bed grinds the seas salt.