被獻祭的山羊

Yehuda Amichai 這首詩讓我從羊的角度看這則故事。

被獻祭的羊，有沒有自己的感受?牠願不願意被被獻祭？從來沒人問。或許會有些自以為是的教徒認為被獻祭給上主，應該感到無限光榮才是，但這到底是不是羊的意願，沒有人知道。我想到佛典故事裡 薩波達國王割肉餵鷹 的故事。一隻鴿子和一位國王的性命是等同的，一隻活生生的鴿子不只是一塊肉，那一隻羊也應該有牠自己的意願。這首詩裡，羊才是主角，無論牠是否願意，牠活生生的被犧牲了。在這英雄崇拜主義的世界裡，凡是這樣被犧牲的...自然成了英雄。

西班牙朝聖路上，萊昂 San Isidoro 教堂大門入口處雕刻著 Aqedah的故事，右邊的 Sarah 剛從帳棚走出來。

猶太 Aqedah 這個字眼跟我們國語的 Akidah 是一樣的，在伊斯蘭教中，它指的是堅定的信念，以及對真主安拉的存在和力量的毫不動搖的信念，以及《古蘭經》和聖訓中所包含的所有信仰支柱，這是信仰的基礎。 

Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000)，上世紀的猶太詩人。非常驚艷於他的詩，或者是翻譯者的功力很好，Chana Bloch 的英文翻譯不但保留了詩的原意，也保留了詩應有的詩意。後來我讀了李魁賢的中文翻譯，不知道是翻譯者的功力不夠，還是希伯來語翻譯成中文本來就是吃力不討好還是怎樣，就是覺得少了一點韻味。

THE TRUE HERO OF THE AQEDAH

The real hero of The Aqedah was the ram,

who didn’t know about the collusion between the others.

He was volunteered to die instead of Isaac.

I want to sing a memorial song about him

about his curly wool and his human eyes,

about the horns that were so silent on his living head,

and how they made those horns into shofars when he was slaughtered

to sound their battle cries

or to blare out their obscene joy.

I want to remember the last frame

like a photo in an elegant fashion magazine:

the young man tanned and pampered in his jazzy suit

and beside him the angel, dressed for a formal reception

in a long silk gown,

both of them looking with empty eyes

at two empty places,

and behind them, like a colored backdrop, the ram,

caught in the thicket before the slaughter,

the thicket his last friend.

The angel went home.

Isaac went home.

Abraham and God had gone long before.

But the real hero of Aqedah

is the ram.

Yehuda Amichai, Selected Poetry 156-7. Translated by Chana Bloch.