網購高手

《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。

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.