Monday, 5 September 2011

lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
Written on seeing women returning from picking flowers on the last day of the Third Month.

    There's nothing, surely,
that can detain them, and yet,
    such futility! --
how this heart's drawn to each and
every scattering flower.

—7 August 2011

Original by Ôshikôchi no Mitsune. The flowers as symbols for the women cuts two ways: on the one hand, he's flirting with them -- on the other, it's a reminder that they, like the flowers, will one day fade. Impressive density for improvised social verse. I don't think this is going so far as hinting they should gather rosebuds while they may, as I would expect in a poem in the Western Tradition, but I could be wrong. The flowers, for what it's worth, would be probably be for placing on altars.


todomubeki
mono to wa nashi ni
hakanaku mo
chiru hana-goto ni
taguu kokoro ka


---L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

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