Written by 范致行 
雨声急密，天空低沉而阴暗，
挪亚的儿子们站在方舟的窗前。
群兽都进来了，但雅弗说：“我见还有一种兽，
迟来了，孤独无偶，在那门前直叩。”
含说：“让它去叩门吧，任它淹死或练游泳，
看看我们的情形吧，这裡已经是无处可容。”
雅弗说：“它仍在叩门呢，拼命叩着焦急惊惶，
它四蹄像独角那样的坚硬，却遍体带著异香。”
含说：“莫作声，你如果惊醒老爹来看
是什么在门外，准会增加我们的工作负担。”
从下面的暗处，传来挪亚的高声大吼，
“有活物在叩门！放它进来再关闭方舟。”
含高喊回应，猛力戳那两兄弟不要作声：
“那不过是雅弗，他在用锤敲下一支鞋钉。”
挪亚说：“孩子们，我听到像是马的蹄声。”
含说：“噢，那是可怕的豪雨敲击著屋顶。”
挪亚仓皇地爬上顶层，探头一看出去﹔
他的脸转灰青，双膝发软，撕自己的胡须，
“看，看！它不再等了。它离去，逃脱。
儿子们，今夜，你们合伙，真干了绝活！
“就算我能赶过它，它也不会再转回——
我们对它不客气，自然赢得人家鄙视不理会。
“啊，高贵的孤兽，我的儿子们真不友好，
如此的黑夜你何处能寻得棚舍和草料？
“啊，那金的蹄，啊，飘洒的长鬃，翕张的鼻孔
充满气愤！啊，那弯弓的倔强颈项，可爱的傲性！
“啊，要多么长久，在人的心上留下犁沟
要多久，它才会再度来到棚舍和槽头，
“我们的种类要经历漫长的黑暗弯曲路径，
像茎枝折断的花，颓丧地垂头度过人生，
“含啊，全世界要以生你的那日子可诅可咒，
为了你，竟在方舟启航时失落那独角瑞兽。”
作者 / [英国] C.S. 刘易斯
翻译 / 于中旻
选自 / 《心灵的回音》河南文艺出版社
The sky was low, the sounding rain was falling dense and dark,
And Noah’s sons were standing at the window of the Ark.
The beasts were in, but Japhet said, ‘I see one creature more
Belated and unmated there come knocking at the door.’
‘Well let him knock,’ said Ham, ‘Or let him drown or learn to swim.
We’re overcrowded as it is; we’ve got no room for him.’
‘And yet it knocks, how terribly it knocks,’ said Shem, ‘Its feet
Are hard as horn–but oh the air that comes from it is sweet.’
‘Now hush,’ said Ham, ‘You’ll waken Dad, and once he comes to see
What’s at the door, it’s sure to mean more work for you and me.’
Noah’s voice came roaring from the darkness down below,
‘Some animal is knocking. Take it in before we go.’
Ham shouted back, and savagely he nudged the other two,
‘That’s only Japhet knocking down a brad-nail in his shoe.’
Said Noah, ‘Boys, I hear a noise that’s like a horse’s hoof.’
Said Ham, ‘Why, that’s the dreadful rain that drums upon the roof.’
Noah tumbled up on deck and out he put his head;
His face went grey, his knees were loosed, he tore his beard and said,
‘Look, look! It would not wait. It turns away. It takes its flight.
Fine work you’ve made of it, my sons, between you all to-night!
‘Even if I could outrun it now, it would not turn again
–Not now. Our great discourtesy has earned its high disdain.
‘Oh noble and unmated beast, my sons were all unkind;
In such a night what stable and what manger will you find?
‘Oh golden hoofs, oh cataracts of mane, oh nostrils wide
With indignation! Oh the neck wave-arched, the lovely pride!
‘Oh long shall be the furrows ploughed across the hearts of men
Before it comes to stable and to manger once again,
‘And dark and crooked all the ways in which our race shall walk,
And shrivelled all their manhood like a flower with broken stalk,
‘And all the world, oh Ham, may curse the hour when you were born;
Because of you the Ark must sail without the Unicorn!’
C.S. Lewis
根据《圣经》上的记载，上帝耶和华曾经用一场洪水消灭了除挪亚一家的其他所有人。挪亚的三个儿子，分别叫闪、含、雅弗，他们在洪水之后分散在地球，成为人类的各个民族与邦国的祖先。
关于这场洪水，《圣经》里只有简略的3章记述，这3章没有直接提到独角兽。但在《圣经》其他地方多次提及独角兽，它的角被做成号，它的力量极大，是一种祥瑞的动物。
C.S.刘易斯以奇幻文学闻名，他是《纳尼亚传奇》的作者，和《魔戒》的作者托尔金也是终身好友。刘易斯把洪水的故事和独角兽的故事融合在一起，写成了这首诗的小故事，描绘独角兽是如何在大洪水中灭绝的。
挪亚按上帝指令，建了方舟，大概长133.5米，宽22.3米，高13.4米，其大小及排水量差不多是沉没的泰坦尼克号的五分之三。它能容纳不少生物，从上帝的洪水里存活下来。
上帝之所以选择挪亚，原因是，“因为在这世代中，我见你在我面前是义人。”但挪亚的三个孩子却不算是义人，他们各自秉性也很不同。比如含，后来是受到父亲很大的诅咒，因为在洪水退去后，挪亚某次醉酒裸身躺在帐篷里，含冒犯了父亲，可能是以狎弄的眼光看父亲的身体而不是为父亲遮羞。闪和雅弗，却是拿着衣服，倒退着进入帐篷，用衣服给父亲遮蔽。所以挪亚醒后，诅咒含的后代，要给闪和雅弗的后代做奴仆。含在这首诗里也是一个轻浮、自私的人，他拒绝了让独角兽登上方舟，导致了后者的灭亡。
C.S.刘易斯借独角兽的灭亡，在这首诗里安插了一个寓意：在人们最危急，想要用方舟拯救自己的时候，却最易于昏了头脑，丢弃掉自己最宝贵的东西。很有可能，方舟的存在，不仅仅是要让人类自救，更重要的任务是救起独角兽，而人类在这一考验之前，又一次失败了。
荐诗 / 范致行
2015/07/26
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